Moving On
by Xx-Twitch-xX
Summary: Max and Fang have been best friends forever. Iggy Haines, a famous singer, comes to live in Max's house and Fang is jealous. Meanwhile, Jade Calloway is going through her own personal hell. How will it all end? Completed!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer for the story: All characters (that are in the Maximum Ride Books) go to James Patterson. And the first chapters are not actually me. Haha XD**

This, I warn you, is not one of those fairytale stories. I, Maximum Ride, do not elope with my prince charming-nor do I have the slightest idea who that is..._yet_.

I am not exactly what you could call out going. I have my friends - well friend, Fang Capelli. I do have a life, out side of school. Which, sadly, consists of having to work in kid central: Toys R Us, visiting my sister, Angel, in the hospital (she fell out of a tree, which I might add I told her not to be in, and pretty much the left side of her body is immobile at the moment), driving my twin brothers, Gazzy and Ari, to all their sports and yada, and last but not least, doing whatever my mother asks of me. (She's under a lot of stress so I can't say no; it would only make things worse.)

So, not exactly the normal sixteen year olds life, but I am not exactly the norm in society. And let's not forget that being invisible to everyone does not help ones reputation.

So then there's Fang. Your common, forever loyal, best friend since kindergarten. He's now the jock of the school, lead singer of his band, all ready has college thought out, luckiest guy on earth, super smart, and yet somehow he manages to have time to fit me in.

And you may be wondering, 'how does a popular guys best friend, when she hangs out with him 24/7, go unnoticed by everyone?' Simple, if this were a movie the scene would look something like this: we are walking side-by-side, deep in conversation about a history test I failed but he passed easily, then all of a sudden someone says 'sup, Fang' and Fang nods. Then that same person, as I am walking directly in front of him, swings open his locker and it hits me square in the face and I fall and hit my head pretty hard on the concrete floor.

And, boys and girls, you now know why I am lying on a stretcher in the nurse's office.

"Can I get you anything, sweetie?" I shake my head no, but gasp when the pain swarms my now dizzy head.

This doesn't seem to satisfy the nurse. "Head trams, delirious..." she continues to ramble on about symptoms that I clearly don't have.

There's a knock on the door and Fang walks in. Perfect timing too, if anyone can get me out of this hell, it's him.

"Hey, how's she doing?" He asks. The nurse doesn't look at him; she just tosses him a piece of paper and continues rattling off problems with me.

Fang's forehead creased, "Head trauma?" The nurse nods. "Okay," he says unsurely. "Delirious?" He then turns to me. "Hiya, Max, you remember me, right?"

I try to nod, but let me tell you - it kills to nod! Then I attempt to say 'yep'. But that comes out as a squeak causing Fang to laugh.

"So can she leave now?" Fang asks in his sweetest voice.

The nurse looks as though she is about to say no, but then reconsiders the fact that she would have to deal with me for the rest of the day. "Why not...?" she sighed.

Fang gives me a huge grin and then proceeds to help me off the stretcher. "Hey, Max, guess what?"

"I just got wacked in the head, Fang. I am not really in the mood to play a guessing name!"

He just smiled and lifted me off the stretcher and placed me on the ground. "That was unnecessary." I groaned.

He shrugged, still keeping one hand on my arm to steady me. "You just hate me doing things for you."

I rolled my eyes.

"This is where you say thanks." He whispered.

"Thanks," I said in an agitated voice.

I signed myself out of the office and headed towards my locker. A hand, Fang's hand, stopped me. He raised an eyebrow, "After what just happened this morning do you think it is really safe for you to be near lockers?"

I gave him "the look" as in "get outta my way before now" look. "I'm _fine_."

He still didn't move. Can one really be this stubborn? "I don't think so, Max. Let me help you."

"NO!" I screamed. "I am not some weak thing that needs help. I can do it by _myself_!"

Fang just pushed me out of his way a little and opened my locker. How he knew my combination is beyond me. "So, you're pretty luck, you only have two classes left."

"I was out that long?" I asked in disbelief. I couldn't have been, it should have been only about five minuets I was out.

"Yep, but what I wanted you to guess early is which of your favorite classes is next." Fang took out a few of my textbooks and slid them into my back pack. "I'll give you a hint, the class is with me."

I rolled my eyes, "Well that's a lot of help." I had every class with Fang. Except for health, that class they split the boy and girls because they felt we were too immature to learn about parts of the body.

Fang grinned, "Yeah, I know."

And then it came to me, "I have world history next." But that particular class was a joke; I hated world history with a burning passion. I always got into a debate and then Mr. Kerner always kept me after call to "reprimand" my behavior.

"Yes you do, and today we are talking about the government and Indians views." Fang elbowed me lightly.

"Wonderful." Fang knew I couldn't even stand to think of the government and Indians. I just hated how they thought it was right to put the Natives on small reservations and think that way okay after they just had the civil war! I mean the government was practically doing the same thing to the Indians as they did African Americans (which I thought was horrible by the way).

We were late for class, not a good thing. Mr. Kerner droned on and on about what I just explained to you. "Erm," I interrupter his lecture, another reason why he hates me – I speak my mind unlike some people.

His evil eyes darter over to my seat, "Is there something you would like to add Miss Ride?"

I smiled meekly, "I don't agree with your perspective of the government." I was never one to enjoy politics.

"Obviously," he sat down in his chair and motioned me to speak.

I took a deep breath, "Well, sir, for one you are saying, tell me if I heard wrong, that it was okay for the government to take Indians lands forcefully? And I might add that the Natives were here long before the white settlers or any other group."

He closed his eyes for a second before glaring at me. "Well, Miss Ride, if you read the chapter last night you would see the positives on this decision."

"What positives? That we received more land. Because, excuse me sir, that just shows how greedy we were for land." I raised my voice a bit at the end. But what can I say? I feel that it was terrible for us to do that.

"You do realize that 'we' are Americans-"

"Well, I don't think 'we' were showing much patriotism. Do you, Mr. Kerner?" I got a little snotty at the end, I'll admit to that.

"Well it seems to me that you are putting down America, which I might add is your home."

I smiled, "I do know what country I live in, sir, but thank you for establishing the obvious. And I am not putting anyone down; I am just saying that there could have been another possible alternative if 'we' Americans actually thought this out."

"That's enough. You are wasting my class time. Now if you want to learn you may stay, but if you wish to continue this absurd rambling, I suggest you leave."

I gathered up my books, "I choose the second option. And thank you for wasting about an hour of my life as well Mr. Kerner."

And this is where Fang stepped in. He stood up, all brave and 'cool'. "I want to hear Max's point of view on this topic. And I agree with her about it."

Now who can be dumb enough to not listen to Fang? Because if anything happens to him that affects his sports, that person responsible is hated for all of eternity, plain and simple. Mr. Kerner sighed, "Continue your discussion then, Max." He said with a hint of disgust in his voice.

I'll have to remember to thank Fang after class.

So I continued and got away with it. Finally the bell rang and we headed off to Latin. Sort of interesting, depending on the mood of the teacher. Today: boring.

Fang sat with me and kept clicking his pen cap, one word, annoying. "Fang," I hissed. "Stop it." But, I am an idiot, because this only made him laugh and continue clicking. Never mind, I take back thanking him for history class.

"Fang, Fang!" Lissa whispered. When she got his attention she continued, "Are you going to Kerli's party tonight? I heard last year the police kicked everyone out, it was bad."

"Football," he said, oh, that's right. Tonight was like the playoffs or whatever against Malcolm High School. But we, Manhattan High School (creative name right? People just thought it would be cool to name us after our city, blah), had Fang Capelli, the best high school quarterback on the east coast, maybe even the country.

Lissa giggled (ugh, nothing worse than a high pitched, girl, giggle), "Fang, the party is afterwards to celebrate our victory."

"We haven't won yet." Fang replied.

"Please, with you on the team we are gonna kick ass." Lissa puffed out her lips, "Please come? For me?"

Oh, please, Fang and I scheduled a movie tonight to celebrate his victory. Fang looked at me and then back to Lissa, "I can't."

Atta boy Fang. Tell her you already got plans, with moi!

Lissa sighed, "I know you'll change your mind. See you there!"

I laughed; Fang just... kinda looked guilty. Weird. But hey, he made plans. And he can not take back his promise to me. It's in the friend rule book, NO BREAKING PLANS! Duh, everyone knows that. Except, let's just leave out the countless times I may have canceled on him.

After class Fang walked me to my locker (he still says it's unsafe for me to be left alone now). Fang put my books away and filled my backpack with books for homework. "So are we going to see _The Stepfather _or I kinda thought that new _Alice in Wonderland_, with Anne Hathaway, looked cool as well." Tonight was scary movie night. Mildly scaring, since I don't want to be freaked out for the rest of my life. Fang wanted to see _Paranormal Activity _but one its R, and we are sixteen. Two, I am not seeing that only to get kicked out of the theater cause I am to young.

"Um, Max, I'm kinda thinking of going to that party." He said softly.

"Oh." Was all I managed to say.

Now he kinda looked hurt. "Well, it's just the team is going and I haven't gone to many after game parties this year and well I want to check it out."

"Check the party out or check _Lissa_ out?" I picked up the pace of my walk and headed to my car.

"Max, I'm not going because of Lissa, I swear." Fang moved in front of my door as I went to open it.

"Look, that's great, Fang. Go to the party, you deserve some fun. I'm sorry that I stuck the fun out of everything."

"What are you talking about?" He chuckled, "You're like the coolest girl I know."

"Apparently not cool enough." I hissed under my breath.

"Max, don't be like this. Plus, I was thinking that we could go together to the party. It would be cool, right?" Fang looked hopeful.

Was he even serious? Parties and I don't mix. No way, uh uh. "Um, I'm working actually tonight. I was going to tell you that this morning but then the head thing and I forgot but you just jogged my memory."

"Oh," Fang really did look hurt now. "Well, can you still make the game?"

"Yeah, of course." Why would I miss that? It was Fang's biggest game yet, I had to be there. "Um, it's at eight, right?"

"I'll pick you up, so it would be like six. I have to get there early." Fang smiled and slowly moved away from the door.

"No, it's okay, I was planning on bring this girl from work and I know that Gaz and Ari wanted to come see you play."

Fang smiled at this, "Here, let me pick all four of you up. Then Gazzy and Ari can see the locker room and hear the speech. Plus, I hear those two are pretty good at football and I know coach wanted to meet them, you know get them ready for next year. He thinks that they'll make the Varsity easy as freshmen."

I sighed; Gazzy and Ari were working their ways up to stardom. They were psyked to be freshmen next year and of course the coaches heard of the Ride twins and wanted them on their team. "Fine, but you sure it's okay?" I asked, still a bit hesitant.

"Course, when have I ever said no to you, Max?"

"Um, I'm pretty sure you just bailed on me for the movies tonight."

"You have to work."

"I can get out of it..." I mumbled.

Fang smirked and got in the driver's seat, "I still think you are a bit dazed form the lockers today, I think I better drive."

"Fine, but only this once." I didn't feel like making it a big deal about driving. Fang should only have one thing on his mind today. He had to win the game tonight. The school depended on him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer for the story: All characters (that are in the Maximum Ride Books) go to James Patterson**

"To tell you the truth, Max, I was kind of surprised you called me today." Ella said. We were wandering around the school hallways. Technically since it was after school hours we weren't allowed in the building.

Ari and Gazzy went with Fang into the guy's locker room and you should have seen the coach's face. He acted as though the twins were a gift bestowed upon him from heaven. And of course they milked it, saying 'it's an honor to meet you' and 'I can't wait to be on your team, you are an amazing coach'. And of course he bought it all. Pretty much the whole team did except Fang. He knew those devils to well.

"Oh, um, I just thought you'd want to come. That's all." Truth is I just didn't want to be alone in the school two hours before the game. And, well I talked to Ella once or twice at work and I guess I could be friends with her. She was the opposite of me though, social, out-going, and all that other crap I should be.

"Yeah, um, thanks for inviting me." Ella blushed. Ella was about my height, my age; she had long black hair with bangs. She was... I guess you could say pretty. Actually, Ella is my mom's sister's daughter, but I haven't met my Aunt Valencia. How I wouldn't know who my family is, it's that she's on my mom's side of the clan. And mom isn't very close with her only sister or parents. So we stick to, Jeb, my dad's side of the family.

"No problem. It might just be best that you don't, um, come into the house while-"

"Aunt Beth's home, I know the situation." Ella finished for me.

I sighed, "Yeah." Sometimes I was embarrassed of my mother's behavior. She didn't think before she acted and held a grudge, also she wasn't that kind (she was self-absorbed). "How Jeb puts up with her, I'll never know."

Ella laughed at this. "You know, Max, we are cousins and this is the first time that I actually have spent time with you. And we are sixteen!"

I shrugged, "I see you at work."

"Still, we are bonding." Ella giggled. Thankfully it wasn't like Lissa; I can live with Ella's girl giggle. "Just because our mom's don't get along doesn't mean we can't hang out. I mean they are crazy and went to the extreme."

"Yeah, they refuse to put us at the same high school and let us meet. Thankfully neither of them found out we work together, they would die." I laughed.

Ella sighed, "I don't even think that they know they both live in Manhattan. Wait till they find out!"

I laughed quietly, "I'm not going to be the one to tell them."

"Same."

It was kinda of nice, meeting Ella Martinez for the first time. It's weird, I've had this pretty cool cousin for sixteen years and I just met her now. Why I decided to invite her to the game, I don't even know. "It's fate!" Ella had said. "We were meant to meet each other!"

To please Ella (which I found out she likes her way and to be right) I agreed with her. Really I think it was just a random act of mine. But whatever makes her happy, I guess.

"Come on, we should go get seats, the game should start soon." I told to Ella.

As we were making our way back to the doors that led to the stadium Fang ran out of nowhere. "Hey!" He was in a good mood. He normally is before a game.

"Hi." I said.

"HI!" Ella screamed. She was a bit joyful tonight if you haven't noticed.

"So, Max...and Ella, about the party tonight. I asked Kerli if she didn't mind me bringing two guests with me and she was cool with it. Please, Max?"

"Um, not this party Fang. Next one, promise." I said.

Ella tugged on my sleeve, "Max! There's a party? We have to go! Yes, Fang we are definitely going!"

Okay, now I wish I hadn't brought Ella. I don't want to go to that party! Have I not made that clear? I am gonna kill Fang for even brining the subject up.

"Oaky," Fang smiled, "I'll meet you guys after the game. And we can drop, um, Ari and Gaz at your place and head over. Is that cool?"

I was about to say no, that's not cool, but Ella jumped in. "Of course. See you then!" She squealed.

Fang ran back to the locker room but called back to me, "Glad you're here Max! I'll win it for you." He whispered the last part but I could still hear him.

When we in the stands, Ella bombarded me with questions. "Is he your boyfriend? How could you not tell me? That was so cute what he said! Why didn't you tell me about the party? I am so excited!"

"ELLA!" I screamed. That shut her up. "Fang is my best friend. Nothing more." She looked disappointed. "I didn't tell you about the party because I didn't want to go. And for what he said, it's no big deal. He say's that every game."

Ella was literally jumping up and down. "Oh, he likes you! I can totally tell!"

Please, Fang can have any girl, and I am positive it would not be me. I am just his friend. "Ella, you just met him. That's normal behavior for a guy." Actually it's not, but Ella goes to an all girls' school so she doesn't know. "And I don't think about him that way."

"But you'd like it if he was with you, right?"

"I guess, but I don't want to ruin our friendship on that." And that's the truth. Fang was to important to me for him to just disappear because the boyfriend thing didn't work out.

"Uh-hun. Sure you don't, Max." Ella said in a mysterious voice. Okay, it's official; I should not have brought her here! One person can screw up your friendship with someone and I am positive Ella would do that without realizing it.

I crossed my arms, "The games starting." I said as the sound of the whistle blew. Fang played great and we won. Hip, hip, I don't care. Sorry for the lack of enthusiasm but Ella sure put of downer on today.

So now here I am. Sitting in the passenger seat, in the car, in front of Kerli's house. Her house is destroyed. It's been like five minuets and toilet paper is covering the outside of the house and the yard. The music is blaring and there is alcohol all over. "You drink one sip-" I threatened both Ella and Fang.

Fang nodded, "Max, I'm not an idiot."

"Okay, well you say what it's like, now let's go. The cops will show up any second and I don't need to get involved." Fang looked like he was going to agree with me and drive away but Ella, once again, said something.

She got out of the car, "Come on, let's have fun!" She opened my door and dragged me out of the car. In seconds Fang was at my side. Ella disappeared off to somewhere and Fang and I were lost in a mob of people cheering for him.

"Do you want to get out of here?" He asked.

"We can't, Ella is here and I can't just leave her." He nodded. "Hey, I was all up for the movies but you had to come check this party out." I was going to say Lissa but I knew Fang would get mad and I just didn't feel like getting him mad at the moment.

"Right, life lesson learned. Always listen to Max, because she is always right." Fang grinned. He seems to grin a lot. It's kinda cute the way he does it to. It's a bit crooked and... See! Look what Ella did to me! I am now thinking about Fang! And his grin! I never cared before!

We headed out back towards the pool. There were a few cans scattered around but for the most part it was empty back here. It was very cool, they had the pool tucked back in a garden and strands of white lights covered every inch of the place. They had made the pool to look like a pond. The water was a clear blue, it was nice.

"Let's go in." Fang said. His black eyes now looked blue from where he was standing, because the water reflected up.

At first I thought he met let's go back inside. But then he took off his shirt and took a running jump into the water.

"Are you crazy?" I asked; I was still befuddled that he would just jump into the pool.

Fang grinned, "Well it's very possible that I'm crazy."

I sat down at the edge of the wall and took my sneakers off. I dipped a toe in, it was so warm, before I sunk both feet it.

"Aren't you coming in?" Fang said swimming closer.

I lifted my feet up, knowing exactly what he was planning to do. "If you take one more step closer you'll regret it!"

Fang quickly pulled himself out of the pool and scoped me up into his arms. "One." He moved towards to edge.

"No! Fang, please don't!" I screamed and thrashed around in his arms. But, it was no use.

"Two." He was leaning over the pool. Just one more number and I am going to be soaking wet. Now I really wish I was at the movies. "Hey, guess what, Max."

"You are going to put me down?"

"Nope. Three!" he yelled and we tumbled into the water.

He was laughing when I came up to the surface. "You idiot!" I shrieked and splashed him in the eyes.

"Chill, Max, this is fun." He turned onto his back and floated around. "Come on, you knew this was coming."

That's true, I did have a feeling Fang was gonna throw me in. "But it's the middle of November in New York! I don't have a change of clothes, I am freezing, and we are gonna catch a cold no doubt because of you! I can't afford to get sick, I have too many responsibilities!"

"How bout this: if you get sick I will personally take care of you and do whatever you tell me to." Fang made it so hard to be mad at him!

"I'm holding you to your word."

Fang nodded, "I promise."

"I know I can always count on you." I said. It was one hundred percent true what I had just said. I looked up at the dark sky. "You know what sucks about New York?" Fang turned his head so he was looking at me. "I can never see the stars."

"I don't mind it that much," Fang shrugged. "I like the lights; it lets me know people are here. But I wouldn't mind living in the middle of nowhere."

"When everything's settled at home I want to go on a road trip, take all the deserted roads and go through ghost towns." I sighed; nothing was ever going to get better at home. My mom was mess, Jeb was useless, Angel seemed like she wasn't getting any better, and the only fun thing at home was the twins. They were both so optimistic, nothing could bring them down.

"Can I go with you?" Fang asked.

I gave him a duh look. "Sorry, I forgot to ask. I just assumed you would come. But will you?" I asked him.

"Hell yeah," Fang splashed me.

"Oh no you didn't." I laughed.

"But, I believe I just did." Fang snickered. I pushed home under the water and he pulled me down with him.

We were interrupted by Ella. "What the hell are you guys doing?" She looked mortified.

"Ella," Fang chuckled, "You look like you just saw a ghost."

"Close. Max we have to get out of here! The cops showed up!" Ella's eyes were huge. We could hear the police crashing the party now. We only had a few seconds to get out of here. Fang pulled me out of the water and all three of us ran as fast as our legs could move.

**Please Review!**

**Adios, **

**em**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer for the story: All characters (that are in the Maximum Ride Books) go to James Patterson**

"Look, Ella, I can't come into work today." I said hoarsely into the phone.

I could hear the yelling of little kids in the background. "This register is not open! Clearly there is a sign and I am on the phone!" Ella hissed at a customer. "God, I hate the Christmas season! People are sooooo rude!"

"Speak for yourself, Ella." I chuckled.

I could almost see her rolling her eyes. "So...you are _that_ sick?" She said.

"I have the flu!" I knew she was going to try to get me to come in so she wouldn't have to work a double shift.

My door opened and I jumped - dropping the phone. Fang smiled and picked it up for me. "Uh," I said still trying to catch my breath. "Ella, I gotta go."

She sighed, "Is Fang there?"

I kept quiet.

"Fine." She said in an annoyed voice. "Hope you feel better."

I hit the off button and sat up in my bed. "What are you doing here?"

Fang handed me a bowl of soup, "My mom sent over soup for you since she found out it was my fault you are sick. And I also think I promised you that if you got sick I would personally take care of you."

I nodded, "I was wondering if you remembered that."

"How could I forget?" He laughed. Fang took the phone from my hand and placed a tray on my lap. "Careful it just came off the stove." He said as he placed the soup on the tray.

I rolled my eyes and put a huge spoon full in my mouth. "OW!" I screamed as soon as the liquid hit my tongue. I spit out the soup and took the glass of water off my nightstand.

Fang snickered, "Told ya."

"What ever, you know I don't normally listen to people." I pushed the soup away, "I'll wait till it cools off."

Fang nodded and placed the tray on the floor. He then slid off his backpack and pulled out a bunch of books, "I got your work for school." He lifted the books and placed them on my bookshelf. "Mr. Kerner let us watch a movie today; he actually seemed to be in a good mood." Fang smiled innocently at me, "Huh, I wonder why."

"Ha-ha, Fang, you're really funny." I said in a sarcastic tone.

Fang shrugged, "Yep."

I quickly sneezed into a tissue before continuing the conversation, "So, what's on the agenda for today?" I asked.

Fang reached into his backpack, "Well, since you're sick, that means we can't go to the movies like I was planning."

"Fang, I wouldn't have gone to the movies with you anyways, it's Monday, a.k.a a school night." At least I think it was Monday.

"Well you had no homework so I thought, since I bailed on you on Friday, we could go see our scary movie tonight." He seemed to find what he was looking for and pulled out a small blue video camera. "Anyways, since you are sick, I decided to bring the scary movie to you."

"Fang." I said unsure of where he was going with this.

He turned on the camera, "You have a choice of: _Alice in Wonderland_, with Anne Hathaway, or _The Stepfather_. Which, I personally don't think either of those movies are scary enough."

"I can't believe you went and saw the movies without me and then video taped them!"

Fang laughed, "Nah, I paid the girl, JJ I think her name is, and she video taped them for me."

I folded my arms, "Fine, but it's not going to be as fun as watching them on a big screen with movie theater popcorn."

Fang reached back into his bag.

"Oh. My. God. Did you really-" I was cut off when Fang handed me a large bag of popcorn (theater kind! YUMMY!) and the he began to put up a large white sheet on my wall with duct tape.

"What were you saying, Max? Because I think this is very much like a theater, and look at that..." he turned around in a circle. "There's no one in here!"

"Fine, it's cool." I murmured.

Fang smiled in triumph.

"And can we watch _The Stepfather_ please?" I asked in between mouthfuls of popcorn.

Fang nodded. "Max, I am really sorry about making you go in the pool. I was an idiot – and now you're sick – god you must hate me."

I shrugged, "No," I sighed. "You make it to hard to _hate_ you. But just be lucky we got to your car before the cops caught us. I'd be dead if my parents found out I was at a drinking party." Fang smirked. He turned on the movie and the lights and we ate our popcorn.

Sometime in the middle of the movie I rested my head on Fang's shoulder. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and I swear the corners or his lips curved up into a smile. It was kind of nice sitting here with Fang. I mean he's nice...cool...I guess he's cute...and he's my _best friend_. I shouldn't be thinking of his this way. Plus, like I said before, Fang could have any girl he wanted. And I don't think I am on that list.

"Max," Fang whispered in my ear. "Max."

I opened my eyes. "Huh?" I looked up at him. Now, the lights were back on, the screen was put away, and there was an empty bag of popcorn lying next to me. I rubbed my eyes, "When did I fall asleep?"

"Only like five minuets into the movie." Fang grinned (damn that cute grin).

"Oh, sorry." I blushed. "Did you watch it? Was it good?"

"I turned it off when you fell asleep." Fang said sheepishly. "I wanted to wait to see it with you."

I smiled (why does he have to be so _nice_?), "Sorry, I must have ruined this for you then."

He shook his head, "It's cool. You needed your rest so you can go to school tomorrow; after all you've been sick since Saturday. You were vomiting every second."

Saturday. Ugh, that's when it was at its worst. Wait! How did he know I was vomiting all day? "Did, a, my mom tell you that when she, a-" I couldn't finish my sentence. Even if Fang hadn't been there on Saturday, he just _knowing _that I barfed all day was embarrassing.

"I promised you I'd take care of you."

Crap! He was there Saturday. I sorta remember a hint of black holding the trash can for me. OH MY GOD! Fang saw that! "Uh..."

Fang squirmed at the side of the bed, "Um, you were... better on Sunday. But you mostly slept all day so I doubt you remember me being there."

I blinked rapidly (I probably looked constipated) trying to process everything. He was there this whole weekend and he saw me get sick! "I'm a, I gotta get home, Max. I'll check on you tomorrow to see if you are going to school." Fang grabbed his backpack and awkwardly half waved to me.

As he was at my door I called back to him, "Fang!"

"Yeah?"

I paused, trying to think of what to say. "A, thank you. That was really... sweet of you to... stay." Wow, that must sound so stupid to him. Sweet of you to stay, what was I thinking? Why in the world should I have said that?

Fang grinned, "Feel better, Max."

As Fang was leaving I heard my mom come in, "Hey, Fang. How's she doing?" Mom said sweetly.

I couldn't hear Fang's murmured answer.

"All in time. Bye, Fang." Mom said as she shut the door. She then made her way up to my room. She has been pretty pissed that I'm sick. "Hey, sweetie. That was awfully nice of Fang to come over."

"Uh-huh."

I wanted mom to drop the subject but of course she didn't. "Not many guys to that for a girl."

"Uh-huh."

"And, sweetie, he did hold that trash can for you on Saturday. And on Sunday he was at your bedside from 7:30 A.M. to 11:30 P.M. doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Nope," I looked up at her disappointed face. "Mom, we are just friends."

"I think Fang has something else on his mind."

"MOM!" That got her attention. "Seriously? Fang is Mr. All That, he wouldn't want a little miss nobody like me."

She sighed, "Max, you have no idea how much he cares for you. I don't even think your father would watch me puke-"

"Okay, thanks, mom." I rolled my eyes. "Look, I forgot to tell you, the hospital called today. Angel was looking for someone to visit her."

Mom nodded, "The twins and Jeb are over there now. But, hun, about Fang-"

"You only like him because his parents have money and he has a 'promising future'." Her eyes widened like a little kid who had just been caught drawling on the walls. "I've heard you and dad talk..."

Mom took a deep breath, "I'm just looking out for you."

"Well stop trying to set me up with my _best friend_ for Pete's sake!" Mom stiffened, "Look, this doesn't seem like a conversation a mother and daughter would be having. It's just weird."

Mom stood up and opened my door, "You should pay attention to the way he looks at you, Max. He does _care_."

"So you want me to take your advice..." I paused to make her think that I was considering it. "Yeah, right. No way! I am not screwing up our friendship because my _MOM _thinks Fang likes me."

Mom stood up straighter (it was her way of showing me that she was now going to act like an adult). "You'd be surprised, Maximum."

Yeah right, me and Fang? No way... it's just not possible... I think.

**Now you have a choice...**

**You can tell me A) You like it and I should continue**

**or**

**B) You hate it and think I should give up writing and go crawl under a rock**

**I hope you choose A! haha**

**emmett4eva :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer for the story: All characters (that are in the Maximum Ride Books) go to James Patterson**

**The song **_**Fly Away **_**belongs to Lenny Kravitz**

Fang.

Max.

Max and... Fang? I guess it fits together. But then again, I haven't ever given that subject much thought. Boy friends and girl friends - now I just think that term is for those insecure, clingy people. But, how would I know what it's like to have a guy call you his? I have never had a boy friend. (This is a factor as to why I have so little knowledge on crushes and love.)

"So, I'm glad you feel better." Fang said as he opened the car door for me.

He then walked to the driver's side and got in. "Yep," I said. "It's nice to be out of my room."

And, ladies and gentlemen, that was basically our conversation. We sat in silence for about five minutes. Fang turned on the radio to try and break the awkwardness. "I want to get away - I wanna fly away. Yeah, yeah-" the song on the radio filled the car.

I knew this song by heart. It was Fly Away by Iggy Haines. "I wanna fly away-" I quietly sang to myself.

"Ugg. You know this song?" Fang asked in a disgusted tone.

I nodded, "It's Fly Away by Iggy Haines." of course I knew this song! I had like every album he ever made! (It's true; they are in order by year next to my iPod speakers.)

Fang shook his head, "This is not music. I would have thought Maximum Ride would have better taste in music." Fang took his eyes off the road, "please tell me you aren't like the other girls who have all his albums and posters and swarm all over him."

I do NOT swarm all over him!

"Oh, don't tell me that you actually think he has a good voice." Fang gripped the steering wheel. "Come down to Patz. That has real music." Patz was where Fang and his band had a gig on the weekends and sometimes Friday nights.

"I like his voice." And Iggy is totally hot (I know, before I said I didn't care about boy friend crap, but Iggy Haines changes everything). He had spiked strawberry blonde hair and a hoop earring! I know, earrings on guys kind of seem trashy, but Iggy can pull it off.

"Just please tell me this is his only song you know of." Fang practically yelled.

"Somebody's jealous." I said in a sing song voice.

"Max-" Fang growled. Yep, definitely jealous that Iggy's songs are on the radio and his are in a club.

I shrugged. "I have a few albums and a picture... or two of him." I muttered.

Fang threw his hand in the arm making the car swerve. "Course she- Iggy." Fang said quickly to himself.

He smacked the power off button so hard that the system made this weird 'zerp' sound. As we pulled into the school parking lot Fang brought up the subject again. "What's so great about Iggy?" He asked in a much calmer voice.

"Uh, I like the lyrics to his songs. I can kinda relate to them."

"Uh-huh. But, he still sucks at singing." Fang added.

"I think you're singing is pretty cool to." I said mainly for Fangs benefit. But it was true; Fang was a pretty good singer.

"Hey, Max, Pat just gave us this new opening. It's in a few weeks but I just wanted, um, to a-"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." I assured him.

Fang grinned and got out of the car. I followed him into school and we headed to our lockers. Don't worry; I was very careful this time. "So, uh, about the movie-" I started to say.

Fang put his hand up to stop me. "What are you doing Friday night?"

"Well I have this date, but maybe Sat- oh wait! No, pretty much this whole weekend I've got plans." Let's see how Fang takes this one.

"What? With who?" Fang said defensively.

I shrugged. "Oh a few boys asked me out, I just can't remember their names." I sighed.

Fang looked like he was deciding whether to be angry or to let it go. "Relax, Fang." I rolled my eyes. "I am just kidding. Did you want to see the movie Friday?"

He nodded. "After my game though."

"Is it like the super bowl?" I asked. As you may have noticed, I have little knowledge in football.

"That's NFL, but sure, you could it that." Fang said as he closed his locker.

"Are you sure there's no party afterwards?" I asked.

"There is but the movies would be so much cooler." Aw, see how nice Fang is to me? (He's also a very good liar because I am positive he wants to go to that party.)

"What about her." Her name is officially banned, just ta let ya know.

Fang gave me a 'what are you talking about?' look.

"You know... Lissa." I whispered.

Fang grinned, "She has nothing over you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Fang took a deep breath. He then leaned back against the locker and ran his hand through his shaggy, jet black hair. "I- you're... um."

"Out with it already." I didn't have time for this. The bell was going to ring any moment now.

"Well, to start I guess I can say I'm pretty surprised that you don't know." Fang looked around at the people rushing by us to get to class. "Do you?"

I shook my head, "Come on, Fang. Hurry up, I have P.E. next." I waved my hand in a 'hurry up' gesture.

Fang took another deep breath, "Well, see-" _RRRRRIIIINNNNGGGGG. RRRRRIIIINNNNGGGG! _Saved by the bell.

"Look, I gotta go. You can tell me at lunch. Capice?" I slipped my back pack onto my back and started to walk away.

Fang quickly ran up to me, "Look, Max, it's important what I have to tell you. It can't wait any longer."

"Not right now, Fang." I had like five seconds to get to the other side of the building in order to not be late for gym. "I have to go."

Fang grabbed my wrist forcefully, "At lunch. Got it?"

"Look, if it's so important just tell my fifth period in Latin class." I said.

Fang nodded and I darted off to gym. I got to the changing rooms with just a minute to spare. I quickly tore of my jeans and T-shirt and changed into the "gym attire": blue shorts with our schools name and a gray T-shirt, also with the schools name and JUNIOR printed in big, thick, black letters across out back.

"Late _again,_ Miss Ride, _tisk tisk_. Not a good habit," the P.E. teacher, Mrs. Loe (pronounced low if you wanted to know), said in her usual monotone voice.

"I'm sorry." I responded.

Mrs. Loe blew her whistle, "Okay, listen up everyone. We are playing volleyball. Team captains, Ride and Joy!"

I moved to the front of the junior class Jenifer Joy with. She was tall (well, my height), spunky (I guess you can say that), she had long dirty blonde hair that was put up in a high pony tail, she had freckles and she was sporty. I think she's the girl Fang payed to go video tape our movies. Jenifer sighed, "Mrs. Loe, I prefer JJ. I mean, like, Jenifer Joy? What were my parents _thinking_?"

"Just pick your team, JJ." Mrs. Loe gave her the stink eye. Gosh, teachers can be so mean.

JJ stood on her tip toes and pointed towards the back, "Lissa!" She yelled in a way to hyper voice.

Lissa. _Yuck_! She was a few inches shorter than my 5'8". She had her red hair in a high pony tail like JJ but I knew for a fact sports was _not _one of her talents. She too, has freckles and I personally think her green eyes remind me of a devil cat. (And I wouldn't put it past Lissa, because I believe she is the devil in all shape and form.) Her shorts were rolled up so high, her butt was pretty much hanging out. (This is probably why most of the boy's eyes were following her butt.) "Pick-" Lissa began to say.

"I'll pick who I want." JJ replied. Go JJ! Atta girl, tell Lissa to mind her own bees wax and you'll kick her off your team if she doesn't can it! Okay, so I am over-reacting a bit, but this is Lissa we are talking about.

"RIDE!" Mrs. Loe screamed. "Are you gonna pick a team member anytime soon?"

"Sure." I looked around the room. I am very competitive so I want a good team, which normally would be having majority of the boys on the team because the girls are little snotty brats. "Um, you," I said pointing to a boy in the first row. He had tortoiseshell eyes and his chestnut hair kind of fell across his forehead. He was... I guess you could say cute. (Trust me; I have no idea where that came from!)

"Hey," he said as he bounced up next to me. "I'm Sam."

"Max." I responded not paying to much attention to him.

JJ chose the real captain of the school's volleyball team, Delany White.

"Um, Ja-" I began to say, but I was interrupted by Sam.

"Trust me, choose Tess. She's amazing at volleyball." Okay, so normally I would be like "shut up, it's my team", but I decided I might believe him.

"Tess Walter." I said.

Tess was tall at 5'10", had brown hair that was neatly braided on either side of her head and a smile that looked like it might be plastered to her face. "Hi!" Tess skipped up. "Thanks for choosing me!" She said like it was an honor to be on my team (I doubt she even knows my name).

So this continued, JJ chose, then I chose until we each had ten player plus us on our team. Mrs. Loe blew the whistle, "OKAY! SEND NINE PLAYERS OUT! THE OTHER TWO SUB! Captains have to play the whole time!" She then blew her whistle again.

We went on the court (I had a girl named Jess and another girl named Bec as our subs). "So, did you like, just move here?" Sam asked. Yeah, lucky me, I got stuck next to Sam.

I lunged for the ball and spiked it over the net (point for my team!). "Nope, I've been here since I was born."

"Really? I've never seen you around before. Surely I would have noticed someone as stunning as you in town."

"Are you trying to flirt with me?" I asked.

Sam hit the ball back over the net, "That depends, is it working?"

"Nope." I said bluntly.

Sam smiled, "Well, I'll just have to try harder."

Okay, so that was kinda cute. But way to cheesy. I mean how many guys say that? I think a ton! "You can try." I teased him.

Sam let out a little chuckle.

Obviously, my team won, 15-2. Go us, it's our birthday, go us! Ha, I'm sooooooo funny. I changed back into my jeans and was heading off to Algebra two. "Hey! MAX! Wait up!" I hear someone cal from behind me. Ugg, I knew that voice.

"Hiya, Sam." I said gawkily.

"Um, Max, what class are you going to next?" He asked while pulling at his T-shirt.

"Algebra two."

"Cool, so am I. Wow, we have a ton of classes together."

"So far we have two classes together." I reminded him.

He shrugged, "You know what I meant."

And this is the part of the story where Sam interviewed me about my whole life. "Where did you go to grade school?" He would ask.

I would respond, "Manhattan Elementary".

And he would be like, "No way! I did too!" So for the rest of my classes until fifth he questioned me. And guess what, lucky him, he was in my fifth period Latin class. So, that made Fang angry because Sam took his seat next to me.

"Yo, Max, who's that?" Fang asked as he towered over us.

"This is Sam." I said in a lifeless voice.

"Sam, whatcha doing in my seat?" Fang gritted his teeth. "I kinda sit there, _everyday_."

Sam looked up at Fang, "Sorry, Fang, but I was talking to Max earlier and I still need to tell her something. I hope you don't mind. I can move if you want." Sam said in his quickest tone, I could tell he was a bit intimidated by Fang.

Fang only got madder when Sam mentioned that he had to tell me something. Wonder why. Oh wait, now I remember, Fang wanted to tell me something too. Oh, well he can wait till Lunch. "Fang," I said sweetly. "It will only be this once. You don't _own_ the seat."

Fang huffed, "Talk to her all you want, _Sam_. Apparently I'm not _that_ important like you." Fang turned away and moved to the front of the class and sat next JJ. She gave him a weird look, "like why are you sitting here?" look.

"So," Sam began halfway through the class. "Does Max stand for anything?"

"Maximum."

"Cool. Wait, what did you say your last name was?"

"Ride."

"Wait! Dude, do you mean like you're related to Ari and Gazzy Ride?" Sam lit up. See, once again, the twins are a gift bestowed form Heaven above.

"Yep, they're my little bros." I said.

"Man, they are amazing at football! Did you know the coach already has lockers for them? They are the new ones that just got put in right next to the showers."

"Uh-huh." I said in disbelief.

"I'm serious. Their names are on the plack, one says Zephyr Ride and the other says Ari Ride." Sam replied.

"Look, that's great but can we not talk about the twins right now?"

"Sure. But, um, I have to ask, what are you doing Friday night?"

Whoa, did he just ask _me_ out? I am speechless!

**Okay, so I made this a longer chapter, I hope it's long enough :)**

**Please review! And thanks a bunch to everyone who did review!**

**So, do you think it was good that I brought Sam into the story? And I did mention Iggy in it, because if you look at the summary of this story it tells you that Iggy comes to the town and stuff. **

**Well, I hope you liked the chapter!**

**Bye,**

**em**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer for the story: All characters (that are in the Maximum Ride Books) go to James Patterson**

"Max, are you sure you don't want me to pick you up for the game tonight?" Fang asked for the billionth time. We were sitting outside my house in Fang's car. For some reason he won't just park in his driveway and let me walk the two little feet across the yard to my house.

School today, well let's just say that after Latin with Sam (even thought it was four days ago) I couldn't think straight. I haven't told Fang that Sam asked me out and I haven't told Sam that Fang (in a way) asked me out. And I kinda already agreed to go to the movies and football game with Fang, because well, it was a little tradition of ours. But, maybe I can go to the game with Sam, because Fang would be playing in it so he wouldn't notice. Then I can tell Sam I don't feel well, have him drive me home and then tell Fang I had to go help Ari with something so I had to leave a few minutes early and he should pick me up at my house. And bam! I'm at the movies with Fang and already had a date with Sam. It's genius.

"No," I lied, but I have been saying this so much that I think it's actually believable. See, I really want Fang to take me to the game, it... I guess I just like spending time with him.

Fang raised his eyebrows, "Max, I'm not letting you drive _or _go to the game by yourself."

I grabbed my backpack and put it on my lap. "I always do. What's the worse that could happen to me? I might trip or sit in a puddle of water. Nothing _bad _will happen to me." The only thing bad that could happen is if Sam tries to talk to me. "Plus, I'm not going alone."

"What?"

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, "I'm, uh, going with a friend."

"A _friend_, or a-"

"Fang, I'm allowed to hang out with other people. You don't need a play by play of what I do. For all you know I could be going with a guy!" Shoot, I said too much! Seriously, I have to learn when to stop talking!

Fang leaned back in his seat and stared out the windshield.

"Look, I'm sorry, Fang. Things today weren't normal." I said slowly.

He didn't move.

Great, _now _he decides to be an emotional barrier. "Hey, didn't you want to tell me something earlier?" I said reaching for his hand.

With one quick motion he snapped it away.

"Okay," I sniffled. "I'll see you at the game. Good luck." I opened the door and headed up the stairs to the front door of my house.

"Have fun with your _friend_, Max." Fang called out the window as he pulled into his driveway.

Ugg! Stupid me and my big mouth! I slammed the door shut – causing the house to shake. "What's up, Max?" Ari said as he took a big bite of a humongous chocolate chip cookie.

"Nothing!" I spat.

Ari nodded, "Cool."

"MAX!" Gazzy yelled, even though he was standing right next to me. "We heard it's the championship tonight, can you take us with you?"

"No." I said as I continued up the stairs to my room. "Go get one of your little friends to take you."

"What's her problem?" I heard Gazzy mutter to Ari.

Once in my room I threw my back pack on my desk chair and called Sam. He picked up on the first ring. "Hi, Max."

Well, that's weird. I've never called Sam before and yet he knew it was me. (And don't be like Caller ID, Max! Because it's my cell, so he had to have like programmed my number in already. Creepy.) "Hi, Sam. I know I should have called before, but about that date, I was thinking we could go to the game together."

"Cool. And then after we can go to JJ's party, her parent's are out of town for the weekend. And she doesn't have like any neighbors near her so I doubt they'd hear the party and call the cops." Sam sounded way too eager. Why can't he be like Fang, kind and cool...

"Sure, sounds good. Pick me up at 6:30."

"Okay, I can't wait. You can meet all my friends and everything. Tess was wondering if she was gonna see you again." See me again? It's not like I am moving away! We go to the same school!

"Can't wait," only Fang would be able to pick up my sarcasm.

"Bye, Max."

"See ya." I hung up. Okay, that's done. So now, Sam picks me up, we go to that game and I "pretend" to not feel well. He takes me home and then Fang picks me up because I sent him a text saying that I had to help Gazzy. See, I got it all figured out.

"MAX!" Someone downstairs screamed. Then I heard footsteps all the way up to my room. Ella burst through the door.

"Ella, are you stupid! My mom get's home soon! If she sees you, she won't care you are family, she'll kill you!"

"I know, but I heard you are going on a date with Sam! How could you? You are going to the movies with Fang tonight!" Ella paced around the room, "Ugg, you need something to wear!" She ran into my closet and groaned. "You have no clothes!"

"Um, sorry?"

"Yeah, you should be! This weekend we are going shopping!" Ugg, shopping. "It's a good thing I brought some of my clothes." Ella dumped a suitcase full of God knows what and then she circled around me. "Yeah, you're probably my size. I know just what you should wear!"

"Ella," I said. "I was planning on just wearing what I have on now." I gestured to my gray sweats, We The Kings (I love that band so much!) T-shirt and my black sneakers.

"You can't be serious." Ella turned away from me and started looking through her clothes. She then threw a pile at me, "Don't complain. Just put it on."

I sighed and slipped out of my sweats. When I looked in the mirror I was wearing: black skinny jeans, gray Uggs (they are very comfy), and a blue, spaghetti string, tank top (it's the middle of freaking November and she wants me to wear a tank top!). Ella then gave me her white North Face jacket to wear. "Now, let me do your make-up."

Excuse me; did I just hear her say make-up? God, this is torture. She straitened my hair (it looked pretty good), gave my eye shadow and crap to put on my face (fine, I'll admit it looked good too), red, blue, and green bangles, and then these silver hoop earrings. Oaky, I didn't look half bad, but in no way, shape, or form did I look like Maximum Ride. I wonder how long it will take me to get all this stuff off my face before Fang picks me up.

"You look amazing!" Ella giggled.

"Thanks, Ella. But, um, how long do you think it'll take to get all this off? I need to do it before I go to movies with Fang."

Ella looked as though I just said two plus two equals' fish.

"Huh?" I asked her.

"You think I did all this," she waved her hands in a circle around me, "For _Sam_?"

"I'm going to the game with him, so yeah kind of."

"Oh, no. Honey, I did this for Fang! You put it on before so I know what Sam, a guy, thinks of it."

"Thanks, for pointing out Sam's guy, Ella."

"If he hates it then I know Fang will probably hate it and just not tell you how ugly you look. But, if Sam likes it, Fang will probably like it so he might be able to make a move."

"Wow, um, no! Ella, Fang and I are best friends. No one is making a move!"

"What ever. Just be happy you look amazing." Ella sighed and gathered up all her clothes, "And if you want to take that all off, it would take like almost an hour."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, see you have to shower, and-"

"Ella, I don't have an hour to use to get this stuff off! And I can't do it now because Sam will be here any minute!"

"Sorry!" Ella said.

"Ya think?" Outside I heard a slam of a car door. Sam was here. "Crap, Ella, I gotta go. You should leave before my mom gets home.

Ella nodded and followed me out. Downstairs there was a half eaten pizza (Ari's, sloppy pig.) on the sofa. "Hey, were the twins here when you came in?" I asked her.

"Yeah, but then they ran outside and said they were going to the game."

"You let them get into a random car!" I yelled.

"No, I'm not an idiot. Fang came to the door to pick them up." Ella smiled. She opened the door for Sam, "Hi, I'm Ella. Max's cousin. Have fun tonight." She said and then slipped out the door to her car.

Fang picked up the twins. What they hell was supposed to be my excuse now? I can't say I left food in the oven because Fang knows I can't cook.

"Wow! Max, you look great." Sam said shyly.

"Thanks, you too." I said unintentionally. That was such a stupid thing to say.

"Um, thanks." He opened the door for me. "You ready to go?"

I nodded and we got in his car.

The game was fun, it seemed like a lot of guys were starring at me which was creepy. A few whistled and some handed me their number. Gross! "You seem to be very popular." Sam hinted.

"Apparently." I groaned.

We sat with his friends, Tess was there and she bombarded me with questions. But, I liked her, she was really nice. JJ was there too. But half the time she was talking about her party and the other half she was making out with guys. I never knew people acted like this! (Okay, don't laugh at me, but you know I am not that social.)

Sometime during the game Sam wrapped his arms around me and pulled em closer to him. But, for some reason I didn't pull away. It was nice to be next to him. "What's up with you and Fang Capelli?" He asked.

Tess jumped into the conversation. "You and Fang would be sooooooo cute together, like the perfect couple!" She crouched down a bit when Sam shot her death glances. "I mean, you and Sam though, you guys are like made for each other."

"Thanks, Tess." Sam groaned.

"Uh-huh." She said and then sulked back into the crowd.

The rest of the game was fun. Sam turned out to be really sweet. Tess, well she seems to now think that we are best friends and JJ can't wait for her party because apparently she says that if Sam doesn't kiss me, there are plenty of boys who she wants to introduce me to. Too bad I am not going to the party. "That was fun. But, we should probably get going to JJ's. It's been like ten minutes, Max, since the games been over."

What? I opened my eyes. I was curled up next to Sam. Most of the stadium was still full but the teams where gone. "Yeah, um, let's go. But, a, I think I need to go home."

"What?" Sam said in disbelief.

"I have a headache."

"I've got Tylenol in the car."

"My stomach hurts to."

"Max, I have some Tums." Tess yelled to me.

Um, what should I say? Hah, I know the perfect little lie to get me home! "No, it's, um. I have bad cramps."

"You know yogurt helps cramps." Sam smiled. "We can stop at WAWA and get some."

Seriously, can he just take me home! "It's _bad_ cramps. Yogurt won't help."

"What do you mean? It's scientifically proven that yogurt-"

"It's also scientifically proven that yogurt won't help the kind of craps." Does Sam not get what I am trying to say?

Tess came over and whispered something in Sam's ear. He scrunched up his nose and nodded. "Oh. Um, Max, do you want me to take you home?" Sam asked.

No freaking duh! "Yeah, that'd be nice." I smiled.

It felt like this car was going two miles per hour! Can we go any slower? Wait, I forgot to text Fang.

I grabbed my phone, _Fang, I had 2 leave right after da game. Srry, my mom needed me 4 some odd reason. Can you come to my house after you get showered and stuff back skool? Thnks!_

I hit sent. Perfect, everything was going perfect! "Who was that?" Sam asked.

"My brother Gazzy, I was just letting him know that if he burnt down the house I'd kill him." I lied. Wow, I've been getting better and better at lying. (I know, naughty Maximum Ride! I should know better!)

"What, parent's not home and you were supposed to be in charge?"

"Not really, my mom's home. But, Gazzy likes to, um, invent stuff." I said sheepishly.

"Like what?"

"Um, mostly bombs." I said.

"Oh," was all Sam was able to say.

When we finally pulled into the drive way most of the lights in the house were on. Sam walked me up to the porch. "I had a lot of fun." I told him.

"Same. Looks like your house is still intact," Sam chuckled.

"What?" I said.

"Gazzy,"

"Oh, right. Yeah, it's still standing." I smiled. I hadn't even noticed he was getting closer to me. Our lips were so close. He was going to kiss me! _Me_! As e leaned down my phone went off. "Sorry." I murmured.

Sam groaned and stepped back a bit. Well he wasn't happy.

I looked at the text message. _Hey, Max. I'm already at your house. Just come on in and we can leave. Or here, I'll come out. –Fang_

Damn it Fang! He ruined our kiss! I was almost gonna be _kissed_. "Was it important?" Sam asked.

"Um, yeah." Crap, Fang was here! HE could have seen me! "Sorry, Sam, its family matters. You should probably get going my dad's mad for some reason."

"Oh. Well, bye, Max." Sam said. He looked like he was about ready to run away because no guy wants a girl's dad mad at them. He quickly kissed my cheek and jumped down the stone steps to his car.

When he was safely away from eye sight I opened the door to see Fang. And he didn't look to happy.

**when I first wrote this chapter the ending (when Fang txts Max) well Sam tried to Kiss Max again but Fang came out. And then Max invited Sam to the movie but he thought it was gonna be romantic but it wasn't. And then (if u read or saw the New Moon movie) he was gonna get sick and then Fang was gonna talk to Max and he almost kisses her but that's as far as I got but I decided insted Max is gonna think Fang doesn't know about Sam. **

**Well, sorry if u liked the version I just told you about cuz I didn't, I think I can have more with this version.**

**Also, I changed the summary. I was always gonna have Iggy as a famous singer in the story but I hadn't put that in the sumary. Then I decided I would. Sorry if ur mad at me for that.**

**Iggy will come into the story (just to let you know) maybe after two more chapters when Fang brings Max to Patz so she can hear his band. **

**Bye,**

**emmett4eva**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer for the story: All characters (that are in the Maximum Ride Books) go to James Patterson**

Fang couldn't concentrate on the game at all. Thankfully football is like a second nature to him so his body just moved when it was supposed to. Fang hadn't even realized that he had just scored the winning touchdown or that he was being crushed by his teammates in a dog pile. Fang Capelli was too concerned about this "friend" Max was going to the game with. How could she not notice all the stupid stuff he did and said when he was around her? Fang was a walking idiot around her. She was perfect, but she only thought of him as a brother – a best friend.

"Fang, my man," Zephyr "Gazzy" Ride yelled to him.

Ari Ride was behind him screaming his head off. The twins both had no shirt on and instead they painted Fang's name and jersey number on their bare chests. Everyone thought it was pretty funny, but they must be freezing. Ari pounded his chest, "Fang the king of New York!" He roared. Ari jumped down from the cooler he had been standing on and patted Fang on the back. "Now about our sister," Ari began.

"Yes, that lovely lady you crush upon." Gazzy said in a mock Englishmen voice.

Fang grinned, "Guys, not now." He looked around at his team, hoping they had not heard.

Ari smiled, "But why not here? I'm sure everyone already knows!"

Gazzy nodded enthusiastically. "If we figured it out I'm positive _everyone_ knows."

"Not Max." Fang mumbled.

Ari turned his attention up to the stadium where a brown, sun streaked, haired girl was sitting next to a boy with chestnut hair – his hand was wrapped around her waist. "Hey, isn't that Max up there?" He asked his brother.

Both Gazzy and Fang turned to see what he was talking about. The Gasman broke out in laughter, "She has a boyfriend!"

Fang's emotions were different. Jealousy took over his body. He wanted to be the guy she was sitting with. He wanted to have been the one who took her to the game. _Next time_, he thought to himself. _She'll stay down here with the team. Then that guy can't be down here. And I can see her during halftime. _"Let's go." Fang said.

He quickly got changed and showered in the locker room. Fang didn't pay attention to Lissa Rowle when she ran up to him asking if he was going to be at JJ's party. One thing was on his mind, _Max_. He quickly got into his car with the twins and began driving as fast as he could back to their house. He wanted to get to the house first, then he would confront Max's _friend_.

"What was up with ignoring Lissa back there?" Gazzy asked.

"Yeah," agreed Ari. "I thought you had a thing for Red heads."

Gazzy laughed, "He likes anything in a _skirt_."

Fang ignored the twins and continued back to his house. He parked his car in his driveway so Max wouldn't notice it and then all three walked back to the Ride's house. As he was walking he felt his phone vibrate. It was a text message from Max: _Fang, I had 2 leave right after da game. Srry, my mom needed me 4 some odd reason. Can you come to my house after you get showered and stuff back skool? Thnks!_

Fang smiled when he read this. That guy would have to drive Max home, and since Fang was already here, he would be able to kick that guy's ass from here to next week.

Gazzy and Ari went up to their room, still cheering. Fang sat down in an arm chair by the front door and waited for the sound of a car pulling up.

When he heard the engine cut off he quickly jumped to his feet and peeked out the window. The boy walked Max up to the door. Fang knew he had seen him somewhere before, but couldn't remember where. Fang's eyes widened as the boy leaned in closer to Max. He was going to kiss her!_ Oh no you don't, I'm going to be Max's first kiss! _Fang thought angrily.

He wanted to open the door and stop the boy but his feet wouldn't move. The only thing Fang had was his cell phone in his hand. That gave him an idea. Max had just texted him so she should still have her phone. Fang quickly opened it and wrote: _Hey, Max. I'm already at your house. Just come on in and we can leave. Or here, I'll come out. –Fang_.

Fang laughed as Max's eyes widened and she checked her phone. He was about to go outside and ruin the moment but Max quickly said something to... _Sam! _Fang now remembered how he knew him – from Latin class. As Sam quickly kissed Max's cheek Fang heard a crack. He looked down to see his phone – now the screen had a huge split down the middle of it.

As the door began to open Fang looked up at Max. She half smiled and she had a feeling Fang had just seen everything. Max gulped, "Hey, Fang."

Fang nodded.

"Do you still want to go to the movie?" She asked him.

Fang sighed, "Ye-" he stopped talking because his eyes drifted to what Max was wearing. She was stunning. _Does she have to torture me? _Fang growled in his mind.

"What?" Max said, unsure of what Fang was starring at.

Fang blinked, "You are, um, you're pretty." He slurred.

Max blushed and turned to the door. She grabbed Fangs hand, "Let's go to the movie already." She smiled at him, which made Fang just want her more. He _loved _that cute smile of hers'.

Fang followed her out, still bewildered by her appearance. All he knew was that he was going to the movies with the hottest girl ever. He even forgot about Sam and how close Sam had come to kissing Max. All Fang was thinking about was how he was going to tell Max that he loved her.

**Okay, incase you haven't figured it out, I took a break from Max's POv and wrote in third person, one so you kinda know what Fang was thinking and two: cuz I got bored of just Max. **

**Okay, I know this is short, like way short, but this chapter was just mainly so that you knew what Fang was thinking while Max was with Sam.**

**Hope you liked it! Tell me if you don't so then I know to not go into 3rd POv again. But just to let ya know, I am just doing Max and 3rd, not anyone elses.**

**Please **_**review**_** because I like to know your feedback! I need at least 5 review before I update again.**

**Hope you liked it!**

**emmett4eva**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer for the story: All characters (that are in the Maximum Ride Books) go to James Patterson**

**The song You and Me belongs to Lifehouse**

It was awkward between us. I never realized how much different it would be without the constant presence of Fang. I missed him so much. He would occasionally give me a wave or a nod of his head. No "hey Max, how ya been?" or "let's go to the movies, cool?" I got zilch, zero, and zip!

This (Sunday) morning I went out to get the paper. It so happened Fang went out to get the newspaper too (and this is NOT because I waited at the window looking for him to come out, *wink, wink*). He nodded his head at me and then retreated back up his driveway. Oh no you don't mister! "Fang!" I yelled.

He slightly turned around.

I ran up to him, he's not getting away this time! "We need to talk." I said sternly looking into his eyes. But, oh my, they were like pools of midnight (if that makes sense, but cut me some slack, I'm in a daze). I couldn't bring myself to look away, he was so... perfect.

"Max?" Fang said softly.

"Huh?" I said in a dreamy voice.

"Are you okay? You seem kind of out of it today." Fang grinned, his adorable grin that I loved. But I snapped out it, Fang was my best friend for Pete's sake! "Hey, Max, I wondering if you wanted to hear this song I wrote for the band. We have practice Tuesday, but I wanted to run the song by you, since you're the manager."

I nodded. "Sure, I'd love to hear it."

Fang's eyes sparkled (for those out there who are like Max! That's impossible, Fang's eyes are black, and well I'm aware of that! He was just happy so they... well sparkled) as he took my hand and led me inside his house. Man his hands are really soft!

I looked around the empty house; it was silent, no signs of Mr. and Mrs. Capelli.

"They went out to Brunch with my mom's friends." Fang mumbled. "Common, my room's this way." He said leading me up the narrow, winding stairs. We got to the second floor and walked down a tiny hallway. Then we turned a corner that lead up to a black, iron, winding steps. When we got to the top, there was a single wood door. Fang opened it and let me in.

His room was amazing! It was the whole third floor! In the far right corner there was a stage with all types of guitars neatly hung on the wall behind it. By that corner there were two tall tables with bar stools under it. There was a bar, but it was stocked with soda, water, and some food. He had tons of black bean bags stacked in one corner and the whole back of his rooms' wall was made of glass! Closer to his door he had a platform (about waist high) with a ladder that led up to where his huge black bed was. Ton's of poster's covered his darkly painted walls. On the left wall there was a floor length bookcase that stretched the whole width of the wall. "Do you have every book ever made?" I asked curiously.

Fang laughed, "You don't read much do you?"

I shook my head no.

"Well, if I had every book ever made, all the walls in my house and then some would be stacked. I would need a lot of houses to hold them. These," he said pointing to one of the books, "Are only the books that were made in 1851. The ones in the library downstairs have books from 1930 to 1956."

"You have _Moby-Dick_?" I asked, since that was the only book I knew that was published in the 1800s.

Fang smiled and walked towards the middle of the shelves, and then he pulled out a huge copy of the book.

I smiled, "I would have never guessed. And I'm your best friend. I should have known you like to read so much!"

Fang shrugged. "It's okay. Only the band knows about it, since they practice in here." He said gesturing to the stage.

"Right, I come to your practices, but when I come you always have them in the basement."

Fang smiled, "Yeah, it's cleaner down there."

I clapped my hands together, "So what about that new song you wrote."

Fang nodded and grabbed his guitar. He grabbed a bar stool and put it on the stage. I sat down at one of the tables and watched him. "Bear with me; I'm still working on it." He muttered.

"You'll do fine." I said.

Fang started strumming the first notes. It wasn't anything like his normal rock, it was soothing.

"_What day is it  
And in what month  
This clock never seemed so alive  
I can't keep up  
And I can't back down  
I've been losing so much time._

_Cause it's you and me and all of the people  
With nothing to do  
Nothing to lose  
And it's you and me and all of the people  
And I don't know why  
I can't keep my eyes off of you._

_All of the things that I want to say  
Just aren't coming out right  
I'm tripping inwards  
You got my head spinning  
I don't know where to go from here._

_Cause it's you and me and all of the people  
With nothing to do  
Nothing to prove  
And it's you and me and all of the people  
And I don't know why  
I can't keep my eyes off of you._

_There's something about you now  
I can't quite figure out  
Everything she does is beautiful  
Everything she does is right._

_You and me and all of the people  
With nothing to do  
Nothing to lose  
And it's you and me and all of the people  
And I don't know why  
I can't keep my eyes off of you._

_You and me and all of the people  
With nothing to do  
Nothing to prove  
And it's you and me and all of the people  
And I don't know why  
I can't keep my eyes off of you._

_What day is it  
And in what month  
This clock never seemed so alive."_ Fang finished strumming the last of the notes and then put his guitar down.

"Oh. My. God," I giggled. "Fang, that was amazing!" I hadn't realized that Fang was now sitting next to me. I mean, he just appears out of nowhere. "It's nothing like your usual stuff, but I like it."

Fang grinned. I didn't notice how close we were getting. Our noses were touching and we were so close to kissing. I was going to kiss Fang! I didn't know what to do. Should I pull away because he doesn't want to kiss me?

_He's not going anywhere, Maximum._ A little voice said inside my head. Normally I would freak out, thinking that I had gone crazy because a voice in my head was talking to me. But I had "other" things on my mind at the moment. _Just lean in already!_ The voice hissed at me.

So I did. Well, actually Fang did because I couldn't move! I froze, eyes wide opened, staring at the boy who I promised I would never have feeling for other than friendship. Fang put one hand on the middle of my back pulling me closer to him. He was... good at this. Which makes me wonder how many times he's done this before.

Was I his first kiss, like he was my first kiss? Did he feel the same thing that I felt in the core of my stomach as soon as out lips met? What if he doesn't like me? And this is all because he got wrapped up in the moment? I have to end this now, no matter how much I didn't want to. But, he was Fang Capelli, my best friend! I don't want to lose him because of this!

I pulled back. "Fang," I whispered.

He dropped his head, "Max, don't." But it was to late. I already was out the door and running down the steps. "Max," I heard a faint call of my name.

I ran through the kitchen and out the back door. I didn't stop until I go to my own front door. I took a deep breath, I didn't need Gazzy or Ari suspected anything. "Max is that you?" My mom called sweetly from the kitchen.

"Yeah," I said. I walked into the kitchen where everyone was eating breakfast. "Where's Je- dad?" I wasn't allowed to call him Jeb to my parents face. Jeb didn't mind, but mom did... a lot.

I sat down next to Ari and shifted the eggs around on my plate. "He had to get to the university early because he wanted to prepare a lab for the Monday class." My mom said as she finished applying her make up in the mirror. She was wearing a flattering black suit. She normally wore a fancy shirt, jeans, and nice, black boots to work. She's a big time music critic in New York. She owns pretty much all the recording studios and a big time record company. She only got this dressed up when she meeting celebrities. "I love you guys, but I gotta run."

"Who's singing today, mom?" I asked.

"That boy you like, Iggy Haines. If all goes well," she meant that as in 'if that boys' got a voice I like', "He might stay in the city for a bit."

"Cool." I said; just to make her feel good.

Mom nodded, "Hun, can you visit Angel for me today? Take Zephyr and Ari with you." Mom refuses to call him Gazzy.

"Sure, but I don't have a car." I reminded her. Last week, Ari decided he was gonna try to drive and he ran it into a tree. It was dead, my poor mustang!

Mom glared at Ari (he was till working on playing her off, and I have no idea where he get's the money from), "Right. We know how that happened." Mom reached into her bag and threw me Jeb's Sedan keys. "Here, Jeb car pooled with Anne Walked this morning." She said.

Anne Walker was the new women who just moved here. She was Jeb's boss over at the University, I never met her, but I know she isn't that social. She is always working on something. I think mom even mentioned that she had a daughter named Monique. Jeb invited them over for dinner next Saturday night, so I guess I'll meet them then.

Mom blew us each a kiss, "Don't forget Angel, Max."

"I won't," I said.

Mom smiled at us one last time and then left.

Ari was the first to confront me, "So, it took a long time to get the newspaper, which you don't even have with you."

"We saw you go over to Fang's, and you were in there for a long time as well." Gazzy raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, sister dearest, what could have kept you so occupied at Fang's house?" Ari snickered.

I shrugged, "I don't know what you mean. He just told me that his band was playing this Friday night and he wanted me to hear one of his songs."

Ari and Gaz both gave me an "uh-huh" before they raced up to their rooms doing God knows what.

I leaned back in the chair for what seemed like hours, until I decided it was time to go visit Angel. "Gazzy and Ari, get your butts down here now! We're going to see Angel!" I yelled up the stairs.

I knew it was a mistake to bring the Gasman and Ari to the hospital. They would disappear within seconds of arriving. Then I'd have to walk all the way down to the main office to ask the attendant to say "Gazzy and Ari Ride, please come to the main office. It is time for you to leave" each time. So naturally, when we walked into the hospital they disappeared. I walked alone to Angel's room.

I knocked softly on the door until I heard her hyper voice telling me to come in. "Hey, Max! I've missed you sooooooo much! Where are Gaz and Ari?"

I shrugged. "Who knows?"

Angle laughed, "Guess what!" Her eyes lit up, she was excited.

"What?" I asked her.

"The doctor said I can come home tomorrow! They just have to run a few more tests and then I'm good to go!"

I smiled, "That's great, Ange. Fang's missed you, he keeps trying to get around to visiting you, but I don't think he has the time."

Angel shook her head, "No. Fang comes every Tuesday and Thursday at five thirty in the afternoon."

"What?" This is the first time I've heard of this.

Angel nodded, "He always brings me a new book to read." She pointed over to a huge stack of children's books on her night table. There had to be over fifty books there! "I love it when he visits me!"

"I'm glad," I said.

Angle looked at me with a serious face. "Max, how do you know you're in love?" She asked.

Aw, this is cute. She probably has a crush on Fang. "Well, you feel butterflies in your stomach when you're with that person and sometimes, when you look at them, you only see them. Everyone else around you disappears." Angle nodded enthusiastically.

"How can you tell someone else is in love?" She asked. The typical curios Angel.

I sighed, "By the way they look at you."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a special look, it's different then how they'd look at someone else. It's hard to explain, sweetie."

Angle lay back in the hospital bed, "That's how Fang looks at you. I can tell. He looks at everyone else the same way, but he has a special look for you, Max. He loves you." Was a seven year old seriously telling me this?

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" I yelled.

"Because it's true," she said happily.

I sighed. Even when I yelled, she was still happy and hyper. "Angel, how are you so happy and... perfect all the time?" I asked her in a joking manner.

Angle looked at me will a stern, serious face. "Max, being happy doesn't mean everything is perfect. It means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections." Angel said as though everyone already knew that and I was just the dumb turd who didn't.

But, oh my gosh, did I just get told by a seven year old?

"What?" Angle asked innocently.

But I couldn't respond to her. I was in shock!

**In case you don't already know, there is a poll on my profile. It's asking what Fang's band should be named. So please go check it out, because I can't write the next chapter without Fang's band's name. So please go on it and... i guess tell your friends on Fanfiction to do it becuase I need a Significant amount to decide which name I should choose!**

**Also, obviously Iggy and Nudge will be coming into the story very soon!**

**Please review!**

**Emmett or Liv, which ever you want to call me!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer for the story: All characters (that are in the Maximum Ride Books) go to James Patterson**

**Dead On Arrival belongs to Fall Out Boy  
You And Me belongs to Lifehouse  
Suicide Sunday belongs to The Friday Night Boys  
I got the names Jack and Rian from All Time Low (I am only putting that there because Rian is actually the drummer and Jack is actually backing vocals and lead guitar player)  
I imagine Fang sounding like Travis Clark from We The Kings**

I looked at the piles of clothes on my bed... they were all from Ella. She decided that she was going to take me shopping (let me tell you, it was horrible!) yesterday and she chose my whole wardrobe. I looked back at the outfit I had on: black sweats, gray hoodie, and my favorite pair of converse. See, this is what I would normally wear to one of Fang's gigs, but seeing that Ella was going to be there I decided to wear something she called "fashionable".

I looked at my cell phone, I had five missed calls. I clicked the view button to see that it was Sam who had called me. Five freakin' times! I decided to call him back. "Hello?" He answered.

"Hey, Sam, it's me, Max." I grabbed a pair of white skinny jeans and held them up to me in the mirror. They looked all right.

"Max, glad you called me back."

"Well, you did call five times already." I said while I picked out a red tank top. It had a band, right wear my bra ended, going around the whole top and it flowed out from there.

Sam laughed, "Yeah. I was just making sure you were going to Patz tonight. You are, right?"

"Yep, I'm Fang's band's manager." I slipped out of my sweats and into the white jeans. They look cute, I guess.

"Cool. A bunch of my friends and I are going. I'll see you there then."

"Yep," I said while I quickly put on the red tank top. That's skill to be able to change while talking on the phone.

"Did you want to drive with me there?" Sam asked slowly.

"Oh, um, I was planning to go with the band. Sorry, maybe next time?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure." Sam seemed disappointed.

Should I go with him? After I kissed Fang it was awkward between us. No, Max. You should go with Fang. Okay remember that creepy voice who told me to kiss Fang? Well, it's back. Most people would call it my conscience, but I prefer creepy voice that haunts my head.

"Well, I'll talk to you there, Max. Bye." Sam said. I could hear a bit of hope in his voice.

"Sure, bye." I ended the call.

I groaned as I looked back in the mirror. Why was Ella making me look nice! She cares about you.

Shut up, voice! I snapped back. I know it's sad that I'm arguing with myself. But come on! What would you do if you had this little voice in your head nagging at you all day? "MAX!" Angel yelled up the steps.

Yeah, Angel came home from the hospital. She still had her cast on her leg, but there was a boot over it now so she could walk. Her cast on her arm was cut, so now it only went up to her elbow. "What is it?" I asked skipping down the steps.

Angle smiled at me. How adorable. "Fang's here." She said simply, and then she waddled into the kitchen.

I sighed and ran my hand through my brown hair. "Hey," I said as I turned the corner.

"You look smokin', Max!" Dylan, the bassist and backing vocals, hooted.

Fang shot Dylan the death look. "Are you ready?" He then asked me.

I nodded and put on my gray Uggs (Ella also bought me these). Fang held up my black coat so I could put it on. "Bye!" I yelled.

Angel, Ari, and Gazzy all responded with "see ya". Ari even added a "wouldn't want ta be ya".

I followed Fang and Dylan out to Fang's SUV where Jack, backing vocals and lead guitar, and Rian, drummer, were waiting. "Let's go." Rian said as soon as we were all in the car. I was up front with Fang.

Fang started the car and we drove off. But instead of taking the normal left to Patz, Fang turned right. We pulled into one of the wealthy developments. I mean, my neighborhood is wealthy, but this development is made for those who clearly want you to know that they are better. All I know is that most of the kids who live in this gated community are rich snobs who go to privet schools (I'm not saying all rich kids are snobs, just around here they are). We pulled up to the guard house. "I'm here to pick up Ella Martinez. 135 Hazelwood Place." Fang said.

The guard looked in a note book and nodded. "You're in here." He said. Then he pushed a button that made the gates open and Fang sped in.

"Ella lives in here?" I asked.

Fang nodded.

"Why are we picking her up?" Jack leaned forward to ask.

Fang shrugged. If you haven't noticed, he just loves to talk. (And yes, I am being sarcastic in case you didn't pick that up.)

Fang pulled into the driveway of one of the mansions. Ella ran out the door and skipped to our car. She smiled at me and opened the door to the back. "Whoa!" Dylan said. "Fang, you didn't tell me she was gonna be super hot! She's like a super model."

"Shut up, Dylan." Fang yelled as we drove out of the gated community.

Dylan pushed Jack into the third row so that Ella could sit next to him. Ella blushed and said "hi" to everyone.

"Ella, that's Dylan, Rian, and Jack." I informed her.

Ella kept on smiling, it was kinda annoying. "Max, you wore the clothes I bought you!" Ella said happily.

I nodded and looked out the window. Ella was being interviewed by Dylan, Jack and Rian were fighting over which song they thought they should do first, and Fang was looking intently at the road. "Fang!" Jack yelled. "I think we should play Suicide Sunday as our opening."

"No," Fang responded.

"Dude," Rian said. "We said you could play You And Me, which is your solo! I think we should get to choose what we open with."

Dylan clapped his hands, "Well if they are deciding our opener I think we should play Dead On Arrival!"

I hushed everyone. See, this is what the manager is for; I get to over rule everyone. "Guys, there are other bands that are gonna be there, don't forget." They all nodded, even emotionless Fang. "I say you play three songs tonight."

A chorus of "Max" broke out from Dylan, Jack, and Rian.

"Yo, I'm the manager. I am deciding." I said.

Fang chuckled, "Just cause you're the manager doesn't mean you can choose our songs."

"Newsflash, I can... and I am." I growled. No way is he telling me I can't choose the songs. "You guys will play Suicide Sunday and Dead On Arrival."

Rian and Jack high fives each other and Dylan tried to look cool by nodding his head. Fang gripped the steering wheel tighter and tried to pretend like he didn't care.

"Then you'll get off, except Fang. He can sing You And Me solo." I said.

"Max," Fang rolled his eyes. "I need the band to back me up and Rian added this drum-"

"I make the decisions." I snapped.

Fang pulled into the parking lot behind Patz and the band unloaded all the equipment. We were all heading inside when Fang grabbed my arm and pulled me behind these huge speakers. "What happened between us?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." I replied.

Fang snorted and ran his hand through his jet black hair. "Max we kissed! You can't just forget about that!"

"Yes we can."

"We? Maybe you can forget that, but I can't. And I won't forget it." What does he mean he won't forget it? "Max, look me in the eye and tell me you didn't feel anything when we kissed."

"Stop using 'we' and 'kissed' in the same sentence!" I groaned.

"You can't hide it."

"Fang, we are JUST friends. I don't want to be anything more than that. You are too important to me for us to try this and then it not work out. I'm sorry."

Fang gulped. He looked like a bullet just went through his heart.

"Let's just go back to how it used to be." I said softly.

Fang nodded real slowly. "Fine," he said gruffly. Then he yanked the stereo out of my hands and stomped off.

"Fang," I called after him.

Fang turned swiftly on his heel. He looked... well he looked a lot of things: hurt, angry, sad, understanding, confused, jealous, and...murderess. "Max, I... I've lov-"

"The Silence band members, sound check!" A loud voice roared.

Fang took a deep breath and looked like he was going to say something, but he held it back. I watched him walk away, and a part of me (most likely those stupid hormones) wanted to run to him and kiss him. I sighed. Just friends, I reminded myself.

"Hey, Max!" Ugg! I wanted to talk to anyone but him.

"Sam, this is the chick that went out with you?" A red haired boy slung his arm over Sam's shoulder.

"Yeah," Sam said sheepishly.

A red haired boy laughed. "No way! She's to hot to out with a dump like you!"

"Shut up, Asher." Sam shoved him away. "So, Max, you're the manager of Fang's band?"

I nodded, "Yep."

Asher was still laughing. "Come on, Max, stop wasting your time and Sammy boy here, and come to papa. I'll show you a good time..., if you know what I mean." One word, YUCK!

This is when "hell Max" breaks out. No way is that boy gonna talk to me that way and get away with it. He is gonna pay, big time. As I was getting ready to punch that red haired sucker, a different fist hit him. "Don't you dare talk to Max like that!" Fang yelled.

He had that face of a murderer again.

Asher clutched his jaw bone and backed up a few feet. Fang grabbed my arm and pulled me away towards the band, which were in the middle of a sound check. "I was going to punch him." I groaned.

Fang chuckled. "You took to long."

I sat on one of the many speakers that lined the stage. "Were you eavesdropping on my conversation with Sam?"

"Anyone could have heard that... that vial, repulsive-"

"Why did you do it?" I pressed further.

"Huh?" Fang looked up at me. Why did he have to be so hot? It would be cooler if he was ugly. Then I wouldn't have to worry about all this crap.

"Why didn't you just let Asher keep talking to me like that?"

"Because as long as I'm around, no worthless guy is going to talk to you like that."

"And what do you describe as a guy who is worth it?"

Fang sat down next to me. "Someone who is loyal, someone who loves you more than anything, he has to know the real you, he has to stand up for you..., someone who is there without you knowing he is."

I don't know what made me do it, but I did. I pulled Fang into a hug and lightly kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Fang." I pulled back and smiled at a now beaming bright Fang.

We sat there for a little, silent. "And now, introducing the latest and hottest band." a female voice came flooded the entire place. "Seriously, they are the hottest, just look at the lead singer!" It was Patz sister, Julie, speaking. She did her usual intro for a new band.

"I gotta go," Fang said as he grabbed his guitar.

"You rock, Fang Capelli!" I said in a hushed scream voice.

Fang grinned and got ready to go stage.

"So here they are, The Silence!" Julie yelled. The crowd went wild. Fang and the rest of the band ran out to the stage.

"How ya doing tonight?" Fang said. "Are you ready to hear some kick ass songs?"

The crowd screamed louder.

I moved to the side of the stage so I could see them better. Man, Fang was good looking. He was wearing black jeans, black Nike sneakers, a black T-shirt that showed off his amazing abs, and his hair was its usual mess (yet it was really hot).

"Okay guys, this one is called Suicide Sunday." Fang looked over at me and I gave him thumbs up. He then nodded his head and Jack began playing the first cord.

"I woke up sweating to a sinking sun  
The front door's open and the TV's on  
And I still can't remember.  
So tell me where we were and what we did last night.  
Were there really fireworks up in the sky?  
Does it even matter?

Another suicide Sunday  
Another way to go no where, no where  
Another day to do nothing  
I'm your millennial nightmare.  
Another suicide Sunday  
Another reason we don't care, don't care  
You know we're doing it our way  
Another suicide Sunday.

How many days in a row can I wear these clothes?  
I hear the phone ringing, think I'll let it go  
I don't wanna face it.  
I wish I had a girl to keep me occupied  
Cause I don't even have the energy to go outside  
Might as well just make it.

Another suicide Sunday  
Another way to go no where, no where  
Another day to do nothing  
I'm your millennial nightmare.  
Another suicide Sunday  
Another reason we don't care, don't care  
You know we're doing it our way  
Another suicide Sunday.

Don't mean to be so condescending  
To the depths that I'm descending  
I'm not asking you for anything, for anything at all, all, all

Another suicide Sunday  
Another way to go no where, no where  
Another day to do nothing  
I'm your millennial nightmare.  
Another suicide Sunday  
Another reason we don't care, don't care  
You know we're doing it our way  
Another suicide Sunday.  
Another suicide Sunday  
Another way to go no where, no where  
Another day to do nothing  
I'm your millennial nightmare.  
Another suicide Sunday  
Another reason we don't care, don't care  
You know we're doing it our way  
Another suicide Sunday." Fang finished the last verse. The crowd screamed their heads off. A few people even tried to crowd surf. Fang looked really happy.

"Yo, Fang," Dylan said into his microphone. "I was thinking of asking this chick out, but I don't know how."

Oh. My. God. He was not going to do this now! I bet you he is gonna ask Ella out!

"How about now, Dylan?" Fang smirked.

Dylan smiled, "Hope she doesn't get mad. But, here it goes. Is there a miss Ella Martinez out there? Well, is she's out there, I just want to know if she wants to go to dinner with me tomorrow night, or even just hang out."

The crowd gasped and a chant of "Ella! Ella!" broke out.

Ella got up on stage, she looked extremely embarrassed. "No, I won't go out with you." She said.

The room went silent.

Ella giggled. "I'm just kidding, I'd love to. But of you ever ask me out this way again I'll-"

Fang cut her off with, "Okay, Ella and Dylan give it up for the lovebirds. Now the next song. This one is called Dead On Arrival."

Rian and Jack started the song and Fang grabbed the microphone. "_Hope this is the last time_." Fang sung. "_Cause I never say no to you. This conversation's been dead on arrival_."

"Excuse me? Maximum Ride?" I turned around to face a man. Fang was still playing.

The man was probably in his late twenties. He was wearing red leather jeans, a white shirt, purple suit jacket, and a really big gold watch. He put out his hand to shake mine, "Mike Brown of Mad Hope Records."

"Max Ride of Manhattan." I said (and yes, I was sort of mimicking him).

Mike huffed, "Well, that sure is a talented group of boys out there. They call themselves The Silence, right?"

"Yep, I'm the manager of the band. So whatcha doing at a tiny club like this, Mr. Brown."

"Your mother actually. She told my boss of this band that her daughter had. He sent me down here to check them out; we are always looking for new voices."

"Cool, so what do you think of them?"

"Like I said, they are talented. I could make them big; tours, concerts, CDs, contracts, parties, the whole deal." Mike said while handing me his card.

"Wow, that's amazing, Mr. Brown." I said.

"I'll watch their last song, but give me a call this week and maybe I can work out a time for them to come in and show the producer."

Mike Brown said "talented" one last time before he walked away. Oh my god! A record company was big!

Fang finished up the song.

"_I know I'm not your favorite record.  
The songs you grow to like never stick at first,  
So I'm writing you a chorus,  
And here is your verse,  
Here is your..."_

The crowd was wild. That was a good, good, good sign!

Jack strummed his guitar, "Okay, we got one last song for ya. But sadly, Mr. Big-shot over here wanted to do his solo as the third song. And our dumb butt manager, Max, will only let us play three songs tonight. Just kidding, I love Max; she's the best manager in the world!"

"And all you guys, she's single!" Dylan added.

I went out on stage not to show my self off, but to pull Dylan by the ear off the stage. "Don't even think about it!" I yelled  
to the crowd.

The rest of the band cleared off and Fang got ready for his big solo, "I'm gonna slow it down a bit. Just to let you know, I wrote this song for a special someone in my life. Without her I'd be a mess."

Fang started the first note. This was my new favorite song. "Wonder who that special someone is," Rian said, elbowing me lightly in the back.

"Shut up," I hissed. "Fang has to be great, the record guy is watching."

"Record guy?" Jack pulled me back from the stage until we were all behind the curtain. "What record guy?"

"From Mad Hope Records. His name was Mike Brown; he wants to make you guys big." I said.

Dylan's eye went huge, "Like albums and concerts?"

I nodded. "Tours, T-shirts, parties, everything."

Rian high-fived Jack, "Man, Fang I gonna freak when we tell him!"

"Yeah," I huffed.

"What's wrong? Isn't this good?" Dylan asked.

"No, it's good. Just, a lot to think about." I sighed.

"Max, it'll all work out in the end, come on, we should be celebrating right now!" Jack said. He pulled me into a bear hug, "I promise." Leave it to Jack to make me feel better; he was the sympathetic one after all.

I felt me phone vibrating in my back pocket. "Hello?" I answered.

"Max!" It was my mom.

"Hey, mom, what's up?"

"Well, you know how I was telling you about Iggy Haines singing in the studio the other day?" Where was she going with this? "Well, I liked his music and invited him to stay in New York for a bit."

"Look, mom, I'm in the middle of the band's performance. I really have to go-"

"I invited him to stay at our house!" she squealed.

She did _what_?

**Happy New Year!**

**Also, I know that on my poll there are three choices that were tied: Mad Hope, The Silence, and Paint It Black. Well, I choose one randomly and named the band that, and then randomly choose Mad Hope for the name of the record company. **

**Thank you to everyone who voted!**

**I hope you liked this chapter, I am sooooo sorry I haven't updated soon but I made it long to make up for it!**

**Iggy and Nudge will both be in the next chapter :)**

**-em-**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer for the story: All characters (that are in the Maximum Ride Books) go to James Patterson**

"So," my father began to say. "Max, Monique-"

"Nudge," the girl named Monique corrected Jeb.

Jeb chuckled, "Just like your mother."

Nudge's expression didn't change. "She's my _adoptive _mother. We aren't related and we most certainly do not have anything in common." she said bitterly.

The tall, blonde lady sitting on the right side of Nudge let out an awkward laugh. (F.Y.I. her name is Anne Walker.) "Nudge, I'm the only real parent you've ever had." Anne said.

"To bad you don't act like one," she muttered under her breath.

Jeb grinned, hearing Nudge, and began to talk again. (He's a bit of a blabbermouth.) "As I was saying, Max and Nudge will be going to the same school. Max will pick you up Monday morning, Nudge."

"What!" we both exclaimed at the same time. My "what!" was more of a no way am I taking her to school, while Nudge was more of a "yes!".

"J-dad, I can't take her! I don't even have a car! Fang's the one who has been driving me to school and I can't ask him to do that."

Jeb gave me the "do what I say" look. "Max, I am sure Fang will be more than willing to do that for us." he said.

Anne smiled up at me. "Thank you so much, Max. I know Nudge hates it when we have to move and she has to start at a new school."

"Uh-huh," I said, looking at my parents skeptically. Leave it to them to volunteer Fang's driving services.

"This is going to be great! At first I thought that I was going to be the oddball out and stuff but now you are going to be there! Who's Fang? Is he cute? ZOMG is he your boyfriend? ZOMG I don't mean to embarrass you or anything-"

"Can't you be quiet?" I asked.

Nudge half laughed, "Sorry. That's why my name's Nudge. I always, always, always talk!"

I rolled my eyes. And what was up with her and "ZOMG"? And please, Fang as my boyfriend? Huh, Fang and Max. No, definitely _Max_ and Fang. I guess that sounds…cute. Ugh, did I just say cute? Man, I really am out of it today!

"MAX!" Angel giggled.

I woke out of my daydream and saw that I had slumped down in my chair and now half my face was covered in mash potatoes and gravy. Yuck! "Um, I'll be right back." I mumbled.

There were a few more giggles from Angel and then my mom who said, "I don't know what's gotten into her. She was out late last night. She is the manager of a band actually. They were just offered-" I didn't listen to the rest of what mom said.

I ran up the stairs and passed the guest room. "Hey," I said involuntary to the blonde kid who was unpacking in there. Huh, wonder when he got here. WAIT! Blonde kid, guest room, what? I backtracked a few steps to where he was. "Um, can I help you?" I said sarcastically.

He nodded, "Yeah. Can you put those shirts in that drawer over there?"

"Um, how about you tell me who the hell you are before I call the cops." I said.

The boy outstretched his pale hand. "I'm Iggy. Iggy Haines." he said. He had spiky, strawberry blonde hair, was taller than me, he had a small hoop earring in his left ear, and blue eyes. Iggy was wearing blue basketball shorts, red Nike sneakers, and a plain white shirt.

It took me a long time to finally realize this was Iggy Haines. _The_ Iggy Haines. "Iggy Haines, like the singer?" I said stupidly.

"Yep," he shrugged. "And you must be Beth's kid Max." He looked at me. "You don't look like a dude," he said.

"Thanks for noticing." I smirked. "My name throws people off sometimes."

"Is it short for Maxine…?"

"Maximum." I said. I hate it when people think my name is Maxine.

"Cool," he looked around the room. "Well, a, Beth invited me to stay here so I hope that's all right."

"Yeah, um, I have to go wash potatoes off my face."

_I have to go wash potatoes off my face? Smooth move, Maxine. _Shut up voice! God, why did it have to talk to me now?

"Okay?" Iggy said unsurely. I turned my head so he could see the white mess on my cheek. "Oh, um how did that happen?"

"I put it there." I said in my most serious voice. Iggy grinned. "I started thinking and didn't realize that my face was in my food." I said.

Iggy smiled. "Well, I won't keep you from dinner."

"Why don't you come down?" I asked.

"It's a long story; I'll tell you after your guests leave. Just, when you go back down, don't mention that I was here."

"Kay. I'll, uh, talk to you later."

"See ya, Max." Iggy said casually.

I half waved and rushed out of his room. I quickly splashed water onto my face and ran back downstairs.

"What were you doing up there, Max?" Ari asked.

"Yeah, you took a long time." Gazzy added.

Mom raised her eyebrows.

"I thought I saw something." I directed this towards mom. "It just turned out that _somebody _didn't tell me that they out a life-size poster in my room."

Mom looked down at her plate, she got the message that I knew.

"Really?" Gazzy asked excitedly.

"Can we see it?" Ari got up out of his seat.

"After dinner," mom said.

They nodded and went back to eating their food. I sighed and took a bite if my untouched meal. Iggy Haines was in my house! And how convenient, he's in the room next to mine. The rest of dinner went quick. Anne Walker and Jeb talked about the University and Nudge and I talked a bit about what school was like. "Oh I can't wait!" she exclaimed.

"Trust me, you will be able to." I told her.

Nudge shook her head. "I'll see you Monday morning!" she called as she walked down the driveway to her car with Anne.

"And Fang, Dylan, Jack, and Rian." I said. Yep, Fang picks all of us up, and Ari and Gazzy because the middle school is right next to the high school. But, in the afternoon it is just Fang and me. Dylan and Jack have sports and then Rian goes over to the middle school to teach after school drums to some of the students. Yes, Fang does have football but he is so nice to me and drives me home first. I tried telling him not to, but he always "forgets" his football gear at home. Well, at least now that Nudge is coming with us; Nudge and I can take the bus home. Then Fang can just stay here instead of driving me home. He is so sweet sometimes…and a good kisser. Oh my god, did I just say that?

I shook my head and walked back into the dinning room where my mom was cleaning up. "Why didn't you tell me?" I hissed.

"What do you mean?"

"I walk past the guest room and I see Iggy Haines unpacking his suitcase! Why is he here?"

"Oh, well, you can ask him. It's just a brilliant plan of mine to get him more publicity." Mom smiled, probably thinking of her "genius" work.

"Of course." I groaned.

I stomped up the stairs to Iggy's room. "Explain." I said as I plopped myself down on the bed. I am talking to a celebrity like he's my best friend. I never knew it would be this easy. Then again, I never thought that I would ever meet someone famous.

Iggy widened his eyes and sat on the edge of the bed. "Well, as you know I went to Beth's record studio and sang a few things for her."

"Yeah, I know that. I meant why are you staying _here_?"

"Well, for publicity I am going to finish up high school as a normal kid."

I scoffed at that. "Yeah, a famous guy like you is going to pass for normal."

"Well, when I get into school for a bit, thing will start to settle down around my peers, but the press, man I'll have them at my feet for another five years."

"Great. But, where are you going to high school?" I asked.

"Well, Beth – your mom – said that I'd go with you. She already called and made it that I'm in all your classes so I should hang with you so I can get used to things. She said that you would be able to help me keep the press too." Iggy said.

I gagged. I know, I know, not very lady like, but did you just hear what he said! "Hang with me? At my school?"

Iggy nodded.

Well, Fang's going to hate me, I just filled up his SUV. Now Fang and I in the front of the car. Iggy and Nudge in the captain chairs; and then Rian, Jack, Dylan in the back. But that is not just why Fang is going to kill me. Only a week ago did he express his distaste for Iggy Haines.

"Are these my CDs?" Iggy called from my room. Wait, when had he gone in there? I rushed into my room. "Well, I see you are a fan of me."

"Shut up." I said, grabbing the CDs.

We stood in silence before Iggy glanced at the ceiling and said, "Well, I'm going to get some sleep now. Beth said you and I were going to hang out tomorrow."

"I can't. I have a band record thing."

"Right, Beth said you are the manager." Iggy flashed me a smile. "I'll just have to come with you then. Night, Max."

Come with me? Come with the band and me. Okay, screw Fang hating me. He is going to murder me, bring me back to life and then murder me again. All in one night, one tiny night, Iggy Haines comes to my house and I get a new friend I never wanted named Nudge. I banged my head against the bookcase.

_Causing yourself physical pain is not going to help the situation, Max._

"Yeah, well when you get yourself into this mess without even realizing you did, come talk to me Voice." I said out loud.

**Don't worry; Max will warm up to Nudge. And as for Iggy, well I would be freaked out if all of a sudden a hot guy celebrity were in my house. Plus I would be pissed that he was now coming with me and Fang (who hate Iggy at the moment). Wouldn't you?**

**I do not think I will be able to update for a while (maybe beginning of February) because I have got a ton, ton, ton of things to do. I have a major science fair next Thursday so I have to finish that, I'm visiting my grandparents this weekend, going with my aunt to Washington DC sometime in January, and I have exams coming up (and I haven't even begun to study). It is so hectic right now at home and I probably shouldn't have used this time to write another chapter because I should have been working on my unfinished science fair. Plus, my brothers are annoying me to death and I can't get anything done during the day! Not to mention I have to walk my dog because I haven't done that since Sunday…oh and my rooms a mess and I have to clean it because my uncle unexpectedly visited me the other day to drop off a book and mentioned how my room looked like a tornado hit it (then again so does my house). So, for all things good, I will clean my stupid room!**

**But, on the bright side, I painted my nails J and got a ton of new books from my mother (too bad I won't have any time to read them for a while…ugh!)**

**So, please don't kill me if I don't update for a while, I am really truly sorry! (I never thought one's life could get so complicated).**

**Goodbye for a while,**

**emmett4eva**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer for the story: All characters (that are in the Maximum Ride Books) go to James Patterson**

**Sick Little Games belongs to All Time Low **

Death glare - a stare down in which one person feels uncomfortable.

I could handle the normal death glare. I get it all the time and give it right back. It was nothing new to me. But, Fangs death glare was penetrating. I couldn't do any thing but feel guilty that I had brought Iggy to Fang's record deal. Rian and Dylan were on Fang's side; they weren't going to let him down. Jack was indecisive, and for my sake he tried to reason that I had no choice except to being Iggy because of my mom.

"_We're all part of the same sick little games and I need a getaway.._." Fang was singing Sick Little Games for Mike Brown.

Mike slapped his hand on my shoulder. "My boss, Jaze Conner, is watching them in the upstairs room. I like them; they could make it far, Max. I'll sign them right now, but it's all up to Jaze." he said.

"Um, Mr. Brown-"

"Call me Mike."

"Okay, well I was just wondering if I would still be with the band as manager and stuff." I said.

Mike nodded. "Yeah, you would have to go with them everywhere, I would just be their publicist."

"Oh," I responded.

Mike smiled and turned back to where the guys were singing. Well at least he wanted to sign them, that has to count for something. Right? But this Jaze guy has the final say. All of a sudden Mike's phone went off. "Mr. Conner." he said. "Really, who? _Here_?" There was a pause before Mike spoke again. "The only way? Okay, we'll talk." he said as he closed his phone.

I looked at him anxiously. "Well?" I asked.

Mike looked at me. "Well, first, he likes them." Yes! "But then, you'll never believe it, Iggy Haines wandered into his office! I didn't even know Iggy was in town!" I told Iggy to wait in the car! I didn't need him somehow screwing this up! "Anyways, Iggy claims to be looking for you." Just as Mike said that, Iggy waltzed through the door looking as happy as ever.

"So is he gonna sign us?" I asked.

"I was getting to that part. Because Iggy and you seem to know each other, Jaze will only sign you guys if you get a song featuring Iggy Haines. You do that, we sign, and Fang and his band get famous."

"Fang and Iggy sing together?" I choked out. Like that was ever going to happen!

Mike nodded. "Deal?" he said.

I sighed and shook his hand. Fang was going to hire a S.W.A.T. team to murder me brutally now. "Deal."

"Great! I'll call you sometime this week so we can set up a time for them to come in." Mike went over to the microphone that projected into the studio. "Kay, guys, that's enough. Thanks for coming out today." Mike then left and went through some door that led who knows where.

Dylan rushed out. "So what happened? Are they gonna sign us?"

"Yeah," I said when they all came out. "You just need to write a certain song for them." I mumbled.

Fang caught what I had said. "What kind of song?"

"A duet." I didn't dare look at him.

"With whom?" he pressed. (Don't you just love that Fang uses correct grammar?)

"Iggy Haines," I said softly and quickly.

"Me?" Iggy looked bewildered.

"Him?" Fang yelled. "No way!"

"Then no contract!" I told him bitterly. "You have to get over the fact that Iggy's famous and just sing a stupid song with him! And you have no choice because I already agreed to it!"

The room was silent. Fang and I were having a staring contest, or at least it felt like one. "Because of him," Fang pointed behind me at Iggy, "I have only one way to get this contract. All because you just had to bring that sucky singer!"

"Fang," I warned.

He turned his back to me and grabbed some of the equipment we brought with us. "Lets go," he said gruffly.

The car ride home was silent. Once we dropped everyone off Fang came back to our houses. As I was getting out his hand caught my wrist. "Max can we talk?" he voice pleaded.

I nodded. "Iggy, just go inside and help your self to what ever."

Iggy hesitated but left us alone.

I got back in the car and Fang drove. He was in one of his moods so I didn't ask where we were going. "I'm sorry," he finally said.

"S'okay. You just gotta chill, you were freaking me out." I confessed.

"Sorry, I just-"

"I know. Iggy was a big surprise for you. I probably should have warned you first."

"Ya think?" Fang chuckled.

I playfully punched his arm. "Look, this isn't going to change anything between us, _right_?"

"What? Oh, you mean that the guy I despise is living with my best friend for who knows how long, I now have to sing a duet with him in order to get a record deal, that same guy is obviously hitting on you, and…anything else to add?"

I slid down in my seat.

"Max," Fang said (and trust me, he didn't seem too happy. This was his "Max tell me now!" tone compared to his "hey, Max, what's up?" tone). "What aren't you telling me?"

"Well, um, ." I said incoherently.

Fang seemed to catch what I had said. "Why?" he asked in his most calm voice.

"Well, mom wants him to live a normal life."

Fang bit his lip.

"That's not all…" I took a deep breath. "I promised my mom that, um, ."

"W-what?" Fang choked out.

"And um, well, this other girl named Nudge would drive with us as well…"

"I don't know if I have enough seats in the car for all those people."

"I know, so I was thinking that Ari and Gazzy could take the bus and we probably wouldn't be driving Nudge for that long. I am sure she will find friends of her own soon enough."

"Why don't I just not drive Iggy, get him to find friends of his own." Fang said gruffly.

I sighed. "You know it would be hard for him. He wouldn't know who to trust, plus I promised my mom…. It wouldn't be for long, just until he gets bored of this life I guess."

Fang ran his hands through his black hair. "I guess I could _try _to be nice to the twerp."

"Thank you so much, Fang. You're a lifesaver."

"Yeah, maybe…but, I just want you to know that I am not doing this for him. I am doing it for yo-your mom." Fang slurred the last part. Was he…was he about to say he was doing it for me?

"That's really sweet of you, Fang." I gave him a hug, only to forget that he was driving…Fang quickly swerved out of the oncoming traffic's lane and back to our own. "Sorry," I said, trying to hold in a laugh.

Fang sighed, "Same old, Max." He pulled off the expressway and headed back towards our homes. What would I do without him? We stopped out side my house; I could see Iggy in the upstairs window watching us.

"Thanks," I said.

Fang nodded. He talks so much, doesn't he? I quickly leaned over (I was acting out of impulse, _okay!_) and lightly kissed him cheek. And W-O-W, Mr. Emotionless blushed. He _blushed_! It made me only want to kiss him again to see his reaction, but I didn't. I gripped the door handle and slid out of the car.

"Max?" he said breathless. Ha, I made him breathless!

I turned to him and smiled. "Yeah?"

"Uh…" Fang looked down at the floor car. "See you later," he mumbled and then drove the two feet to his own driveway.

Not only was it funny to see Fang blush and then forget what he was going to say, it made me only want to kiss him again. I know, we had already kissed once, but now it just seemed…right. Like it was supposed to be that way. I sighed and sauntered up to my front door. I glanced once more over to Fang's house, where Fang was still in his SUV dazed. I fought the _wanting_ to run over and kiss him again and instead went inside.

"Enjoy yourself?" a way to familiar voice asked. I looked up at Iggy, who was casually leaning in the doorway. _Had he seen?_

**Hi again everyone!**

**Thanks to thoes who review! I just loooooove getting your feedback!**

**I know, I know. I told you I probably wouldn't get to writing untill Febuary but I couldn't wait. Not to mention now I probably failed all exams...**

**Anywho! I have been writing this chapter little bits at a time and then BAM it was done! So since I have science fair TOMORROW (which sucks)! My teachers graciously decided that they would give us a break (FINALLY!). So, tonight with the little time I have (since my lit class - my lit teacher today decided to give us the sex talk that we've already had a long time ago, all because it somehow related to our book...it was...lets just say very, very, **_**very**_** weird- just couldn't go a day without work I have to read for her and diagnois the book which I think is stupid because I think everyone should form their own opinion and not have to go to the back of the book to those reader's questions to be told what freakin question u should be asking...i hate that!) so anyways, back on the topic - I decided I would quickly update!**

**I hope you like it!**

**~emmett4eva~**


	11. Chapter 11

**You'll want to read this:**

**First off, I'm really sorry about the Valentine's Day chapter. It was stupid and I was a lazy butt so I just put it up (and I shouldn't have done that). I completely forgot my whole game plan for this story and trust me, that chapter did not fit. Plus, that was February, this is only November.**

**So yes, I'm very sorry and I will get back on track with this story. I don't want to ruin it. But now, I have gotten it all sorted out so there will be no mistakes again.**

**Just to let you know, this chapter is in third person. It gives you an idea about what Iggy was thinking and a bit on Max's mother, Beth.**

**Once again, I am very, very, **_**very **_**sorry! As a writer, I shouldn't have done that.**

**Disclaimer for the story: All characters (that are in the Maximum Ride Books) go to James Patterson**

Iggy Haines tried to distract himself from worrying about Max. She still wasn't home yet and he could only think the worse. _What if she never found Fang? What if she's been kidnapped? _Iggy paced around his room, occasionally glancing down at his phone if she if Max called. _I didn't even give her my number for emergencies! _

The sound of a car outside pulled Iggy out of his thoughts. He quickly raced to his window and saw that Max was in Fang's car, nice and safe. A flood of relief rushed through Iggy. He watched as Max went to open to the door but instead turned around and kissed Fang. Iggy staggered backwards, he hadn't expected Max to ever kiss Fang. It wasn't that Iggy liked her; it was more because of what he had overheard Beth saying to Jeb. "I thought you were team Fang," Jeb had said one night.

Beth had thought that no one was listening; well she had a good reason to at least. Iggy had been on his way to tell Beth of his new demo idea when he had heard the conversation. "I was, since he has a promising future ahead of him." she answered.

"Beth, this is Max's decision. The girl is only sixteen! She has years ahead of her before she is married. Max may not even end up with either of them, Beth!" Jeb said in a hushed voice.

"Jeb, I just want to make sure our girl _has _a future. I need to make sure she will be taken care of."

"Bethany, you listen to me now. Maximum is strong; she'll be well off no matter where she is. I think it is more that you want fame for her."

"Well I'm not changing my mind. I will find a way for there to be a Max and an Iggy," Beth said sternly.

"You can't force her into something, Beth."

"What are you going to do about it? I have it all ready, Jeb. Why do you think Iggy is even in this house? I made sure that he would want to have a normal life. There isn't anything normal about the boy. He's a star and that's just how it is always going to be."

Iggy cringed remembering the words that had been said that night. Beth had only wanted to use him. She only wanted Max and Iggy together, Fang was no longer an important key to Max's future. Now, Fang was just an obstacle in Beth's way. Now, Iggy could have left hat night. He could have told Beth that he didn't want Max. But something inside him made him stay and pretend like he never heard the conversation.

Iggy rushed downstairs just in time for Max to come through the door. He said the first thing that came to his mind, "Enjoy yourself?"

Max looked at him horrified. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Embarrassed, she quickly rushed up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door.

**So, hopefully you will find this chapter, even thought it is short, much better than the original chapter eleven.**

**Sorry,**

**Emmett4eva**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in forever, but I've been busy with school and other stories. I'll try to update sooner this time, but I can't make any promises. Please review!**

**Disclaimer: All characters (that are in the Maximum Ride Books) belong to James Patterson**

_**She Will Be Loved**_**belongs to Maroon 5**

_**You're Beautiful (Clean Version) **_**belongs to James Blunt**

Iggy and Fang each had a pencil and a notebook in front of them. Occasionally they would scribble something down, but only to erase it seconds later. Rian was working on a drum beat, Jack was cleaning the guitars, and Dylan...he said he had to go to the bathroom. That was a half-hour ago. Surprisingly Ella had left after him. I don't think Dylan had to go to the bathroom.

"How 'bout this," Iggy said. He grabbed a guitar from Jack and played a good beat.

_Beauty queen of only eighteen  
She had some trouble with herself  
He was always there to help her  
She always belonged to someone else_

_I drove for miles and miles  
And wound up at your door  
I've had you so many times but somehow  
I want more_

_I don't mind spending everyday  
Out on your corner in the pouring rain  
Look for the girl with the broken smile  
Ask her if she wants to stay awhile  
And she will be loved  
She will be loved_

_Tap on my window knock on my door  
I want to make you feel beautiful  
I know I tend to get so insecure  
Doesn't matter anymore_

_It's not always rainbows and butterflies  
It's compromise that moves us along, yeah  
My heart is full and my door's always open  
You can come anytime you want, yeah_

"That's all I have so far, it's not done, though," Iggy mumbled.

"Dude, that's really good," Rian said.

"Yeah, Ig, you should finish this," I said supporting.

Iggy smiled. "Fang, you want to help?"

Fang threw his guitar on the sofa. "No. I think you got it just fine, Iggy." He headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

He grabbed his jacket. "Out," he said simply.

I sighed. What the hell was his deal? "You're supposed to be writing this _with _Iggy, Fang! FANG!" But he left, slamming the door behind him. "He's just moody," I said to the band.

Jack looked at me. "You going to go after him?" he asked.

"No," I said, knowing Fang would come around. I could tell he wanted to be alone. "We'll pick this up tomorrow, guys. Practice is over."

The band packed up their stuff and left. I walked back over to my house with Iggy. We shivered a little; after all, it is still November! It is cold in New York in November!

"Hey, Max," Iggy said, "I wanted to ask you something."

"Shoot," I said, not quite sure what he was talking about.

"I, um, hope you don't mind, but, ah, I wrote you a song." Iggy scratched his head. "If it's okay with you, I'd like to play it for you."

I blinked. "Really? A song..._for me?_"

"Of course it's a song for you." Iggy led me over to the swing in the backyard garden. He opened up his guitar case and began playing a beautiful tune.

_My life is brilliant  
My love is pure  
I saw an angel  
Of that I'm sure  
She smiled at me on the subway  
She was with another man  
But I won't lose no sleep on that  
'Cause I've got a plan_

You're beautiful

_You're beautiful  
You're beautiful, it's true  
I saw your face in a crowded place  
And I don't know what to do  
'Cause I'll never be with you_

Yeah, she caught my eye  
As we walked on by  
She could see from my face that I was  
Flying high  
And I don't think that I'll see her again  
But we shared a moment that will last till the end

_You're beautiful _

_You're beautiful  
You're beautiful, it's true  
I saw your face in a crowded place  
And I don't know what to do  
'Cause I'll never be with you_

_La Da Da Da_

_La Da Da Da_

_La Da Da Da_

_La Da Da Da_

_You're beautiful. You're beautiful  
You're beautiful, it's true  
There must be an angel with a smile on her face  
When she thought up that I should be with you_

_But it's time to face the truth  
I will never be with you_

I was speechless.

"Do you like it?" Iggy asked hopefully.

I nodded. "Who was it about?"

"This girl I know," Iggy answered. "But, um, she's supposed to be with someone else, even if she doesn't know it. But, uh, she's important to me. She doesn't think of me as some celebrity, but as a person, you know? She sees the real me."

I smiled. "Do you love her?"

Iggy bit his lip. It was silent for a little, but then he said, "Yes." Iggy looked at me and shook his head. "She doesn't even know how I feel."

I sighed. "That sucks."

Iggy chuckled. Then he was really close to me. "It's you, Max. I'm in love with _you._"

Oh. My. God. He _did not _just say that to me. Iggy Haines loves me? "But, why?" I asked stupidly.

Iggy didn't answer. He just leaned in and kissed me. It wasn't like kissing Fang, but Iggy was good at it. And, surprisingly, I was kissing him back.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Just to let you know, in case you didn't, MR high school fics have someone named JJ, because there is a character named JJ in SOF. I will mention this now, I was never planning to have Fang walk in on Max and Iggy's kiss. You'll see where I am going with this :) Thank you for everyone's reviews, it motivated me to update faster!**

**This chapter is in third person.**

**Disclaimer: All characters (that are in the Maximum Ride Books) belong to James Patterson**

Beth Ride peered out the window. Yes, she was spying on her daughter and Iggy. Beth didn't care about happiness, she cared about success. And, as crazy as it may seem, Beth cared about her daughter's future.

When Beth Ride had first found out that she had lung cancer, Max's future became very important to her. Beth had high hopes that Fang would become successful and be able to support Max. That lasted until she met Iggy Haines who had already achieved success. She thought bringing Iggy to the house would spark something, and now, seeing the two kiss, she accomplished her goal.

Beth knew she wasn't going to be able to see her children grow up, and it frightened her. Sometimes she would stay up all night crying. Once Angel found her and tried to comfort her, but it only made Beth cry more because Angel was getting so big. She knew she wouldn't live to see Max graduate high school, or Ari and Gazzy graduate eight grade, or even Angel finish elementary school. The cancer had already progressed to stage four and it was unknown how long she had left. Probably only a few more months, maybe less.

"Max is going to hate you for this," Jeb said. He was sitting in the arm chair reading over his students' papers.

Beth knew he was right, but it was something that had to be done. Beth closed the curtain. "She'll understand," she said, trying to convince herself rather than Jeb.

Jeb put the reports down. He walked over to her and gave her a comforting hug. "Beth, I know you're worried, but can't you trust that I'll take care of Max?"

"Jeb, I don't doubt you, but you know how I am. I like things done my way." Beth let a silent tear escape and roll onto Jeb's shirt.

"Let her live a little, will you? More than one heart is going to be broken." "Then why don't you stop me?" Jeb fell silent. "Why not, Jeb? Because you know I'm right."

Jeb pulled away, shaking his head. "I just want my daughter to be _happy_. Whether she chooses Fang, Iggy, or someone else who will come in the future. Is it wrong for Max to find love on her own? Beth, I know you're scared, but let Max make her own choices." Jeb looked out the window at Max. She looked happy now, talking to Iggy, and that was okay. But she also looked happy when she was with _Fang_.

"So you wouldn't care if she came home pregnant?" Beth said; bring Jeb out of his thoughts.

Personally, Jeb wouldn't want his daughter to have a baby at only sixteen, but if he has to choose: "I rather it be Fang's baby than Iggy's."

"Jeb!" Beth scolded.

Jeb shrugged. "I'm just saying that we need to let Max make her own choices. I know she's going to take your situation—"

"You mean my _death_?"

Jeb winced at his wife's words. He knew it was going to happen, but he didn't want it to happen _now_. For the past year he had been trying his best to forget about it. Jeb couldn't imagine his life without Beth. "Well, she is going to take it hard." Jeb pulled Beth back into a hug. "I know you don't want to tell her...but we need to sit down and explain this. What are we going to say to the twins and Angel? We can't just let this go."

Beth sighed. "Not until it gets worse," she said.

"Beth, honey, it is _worse_. You've been saying that for a year now, it's time already." Truth was that Jeb was _scared_ to tell his kids. He wanted his wife to do it, to handle everything for him.

Beth slightly nodded. "A few more weeks," she begged.

Jeb, even though he was worried that she didn't have a _few more weeks_, agreed to it for his wife's sake.

Downstairs they heard the door open and closed, followed by two sets of feet. "Iggy, I, um—" Max tried to say.

"It's cool, Max. We'll talk about it tomorrow. But, I was wondering, would you mind if I used your song for my album?" Iggy asked.

Max replied something in too soft a tone for her parents to hear, though she was not conscience of their eavesdropping.

Iggy laughed. "Good night, Max," he said.

"Good night, Ig." The sound of two doors closing followed.

Beth kissed her husband on the cheek. "I have to make a phone call," Beth whispered before leaving the room. I'm doing the right thing, she told herself. Max will understand soon enough.

With her phone in one hand, Beth quickly made the call. "Manhattan Press, how may I help you?" the voice on the other line answered.

"My name's Beth Ride—"

"Oh! Mrs. Ride, how may I help you tonight?"

Beth hesitated, but then said, "I have some information you may want to know about Iggy Haines."

"Please hold for one moment while I inform Mr. Hawkins of this," the voice said.

Beth waited a few seconds until Mr. Tom Hawkins answered, saying, "Bethany, how are you?"

"Fine," she responded curtly.

"Eh-hem, so what is it that you need?"

"It's about my daughter—"

"Max?"

"—and Iggy Haines."

"I-Iggy? _What do you mean_?"

Beth was doing this because she cared. She wanted Iggy in Max's future. "Oh, you know another high school relationship."

"Are you sure you want to do this? Even to _Max_?"

Beth sternly said, "Yes."


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: So... this is your new author. Name's Kelsey/Anice. Whatever you wanna call me. I'm a tad bit nervous about this... I hope everyone likes this! Oh! Disclaimer: however unfortunate it may be, I don't own Maximum Ride or the original characters. Or the OCs from the beginning of the story... and Cottonmouth (Jargon) belongs strictly to the awesome band known as Seabird.**

"What the hell is this?" I yelled, snatching the side-of-the-grocery-checkout-line magazine from Fang. He narrowed his eyes at me and shook his head, leaning on the locker to the right of mine. Class would be starting in about ten minutes and I was stalling, waiting for Iggy to show up.

"You tell me, Max. That looks a whole lot like you and lover boy Iggy right there." Like I said before, I could handle anyone's death glare_ but_ Fang's. And right now I was getting it full force. If looks could kill, I swear I'd be little grains of sand, floating away by now.

"Fang... Look Fang, I know you don't like Iggy, but can you just accept my decision? It's not like we tell each other whom we can and cannot date." I grabbed my books for my first few classes and slammed my locker door closed. The annoying thing just_ had_ to not close and it sprang back open. I frowned and kicked it, but it still wouldn't close.

"Max, it's not that I feel as if I can control who you date, but I thought... I mean... Max, I lo-" Fang started but Iggy interrupted him.

"Hey Max," he kissed my cheek, upsetting the flock of girls following him. He turned to Fang with a smile. "Hey, how's that song for us coming along?" Fang muttered something under his breath.

"I thought you were writing it, lover boy." He eyed Iggy's arm that had snaked itself around my waist.

"Well, I was thinking, it's your record, so you can write the song, okay? It doesn't even have to be a real duet. I'd be happy to just sing the bridge or something, if that's okay with you, of course."

"I guess that's okay. I think I can find something in my old songs." Fang saw a friend from the football team near his first class and hurried there. I tried once again to close my locker, but we desperately needed new ones. Iggy chuckled and slammed it, managing to make it shut.

"Thanks." I mumbled, walking with Iggy to our AP Biology class. We came in and I led Iggy to my lab table in the front of the room. The teachers already knew that Iggy would be here, so the Biology teacher, Mr. McKinney, didn't question my brand new, not to mention famous, lab partner. (**A/N so the teacher, Mr. McKinney, is based off my bio teacher. The following things actually did happen…)**

Class started ten minutes later. Iggy and I were busy whispering until I heard the words 'dissect' and 'cat' in the same sentence. I was thrilled. Dissections were always my favorite part of being in Biology. Iggy leaned over to me.

"So we're cutting up a dead cat?" I nodded, "Gross." He wrinkled his nose, ruining his good looks for a split second. Fang was always excited to dissect, usually more so than me. But I needed to stop thinking about him.

"Alright, class. I need someone to come and-" One annoying student, Jeff (he never shut up) was laughing at something. Mr. McKinney glared at him and pointed a laser pointer at his head, silencing him. "Like I was saying, I need someone to come and help me bring the kitty-cat into the classroom." He scanned the room before his eyes landed on me. "Ah, Max looks like she's chomping at the bit to get this dissection started. Why don't you come with me and we'll go get Mr. Kitty from the biology fridge, okay?"

Eight hours and a video tape of us pulling out a cat's brain later, it was time to go home. We dropped Nudge, Ari, and Gazzy off before heading over to Fang's house to hear whatever Fang and Iggy could come up with. Fang was still giving Iggy a death glare every few seconds. I would have to talk to him later.

Dylan, Jack, and Rian were all blissfully ignorant to my awkward standing. They were too concerned with what the drumbeat or bass groove was going to be, even though we hadn't even picked the song yet. As manager, I felt that no matter what song Fang chose to play today, that would be the duet. I wanted this Fang-hates-having-to-work-with-Iggy crap to be over.

We went in and went straight to Fang's room; Fang had been holding the practice in there, even if I was there. Fang immediately sat down where he'd first kissed me and gave me a meaningful look, asking that I sit with him so we could talk, but I pretended as if I hadn't seen it. I sat with Iggy at the bar and Dylan grabbed his guitar, warming up a bit. I looked expectantly at Fang.

"What?" He asked, looking up from his notebook. I gave him a knowing look.

"You said you would pick a song for you and Iggy to do a duet on," I said, giving him the universal 'duh' look.

"Oh… uh…" He flipped to a random page in the notebook he was holding. "Here's one I wrote when I was mad at my parents and they finally gave me more freedom, I think that's what it's about, at least. It was a while ago. I never finished it. I got stuck right before the bridge." He started singing softly.

"_And the days you said you were smarter, knew you were harder,_

_They're over._

_And the days you told us to grow up, told us to shut up,_

_They're over._

_But I promise, the words that you said, stuck in our heads,_

_They'll come back to haunt you,_

_To taunt you,_

_Keep you from sleeping,_

_Keep you from eating._

_I promise._" Fang had walked over to the piano in the room and started to play it. Rian sat at the drums and experimented with the beat.

"_And the times you made us look stupid, made us feel useless,_

_They're over._

_And the days, you told us to sit out, told us to get out,_

_They're over._

_But I promise, the words that you said, stuck in our heads,_

_They'll come back to haunt you,_

_To taunt you,_

_Keep you from sleeping,_

_Keep you from eating._

_Oh, I promise,"_ He played an insanely hard piano thing **(A/N just listen to the song and you'll know what I mean.)** and kept it up for a while.

"_Oh, I promise,_

_For the last time of my life, I promise."_ He stopped abruptly, leaving us all hanging. I stared at him along with everyone else. He laughed nervously and eyed us. "What?"

"I didn't know you could play piano, man! That's awesome!" Jack said, picking up his bass and experimenting a little. Next to me, Iggy was jotting down a few things at random intrevals and chewing on the eraser of his pencil. It was cute.

"Fang, that was really good," Iggy said when he was finished writing. He held it up. "I had an idea for the bridge. We'd pick the speed up a whole lot and I've got some lyrics here, if you wanna take a look at them." Fang extended his hand and looked over them skeptically. His mouth twitched up in a smile, but he quickly hid it, much to my amusement. Fang glanced from me to Iggy quickly.

"Sing them then. They match the style of the song, even if we did pick up the tempo." Fang looked defeated and gave me a, 'there, ya happy?' look. I nodded with a teasing smile. He just rolled his eyes and glared at Iggy's back before he turned around. Rian counted him off with stick clicks and Iggy started singing. I stared, transfixed.

"_We hate to see ya go,_

_But now it's time to let you know,_

_That shouting never wins,_

_And losing you never felt so good,_

_So it should, yeah we knew it would,_

_The stars in the sky are about to cry._

_We hate to see ya go,_

_But now it's time to let you know,_

_That shouting never wins,_

_And losing you never felt so good,_

_Oh, baby, so it should, yeah we knew it would,_

_The stars in the sky are about to make us liars._

_Oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh,_

_Oh oh oh oh, Yeah._

_They do."_ He put down the sheet of lyrics and turned to look at Fang, who was still glaring. He nodded through his death glare.

"Pretty good. Now, sing that first note again, I want to make a matching piano part to play before that…" he played a note on the piano, and then changed it. "Is that a G? Yeah, Yeah. Hey, Jack, write this stuff down! G, F, E flat…"

"Max, wait up!" I heard pounding footsteps behind me and I turned to see Fang running towards me. Iggy smirked.

"Have fun," he whispered and left for my house. I crossed my arms and waited for Fang to reach me.

"What is it?" I asked rather impatiently. I had homework to finish. He smiled as he saw Iggy's retreating figure and tugged on my elbow.

"I wanted to apologize for my attitude for the past few days. I was out of line. I don't have any place saying whom you can and cannot date. And other than the fact that I hate his voice and just about everything about him, especially the fact that you're dating him, Iggy isn't as bad as I thought he'd be. Forgive me?" He gave me a hopeful smile. A breeze blew and made his smell reach my nose; I involuntarily inhaled deeply. Fang chuckled.

"You're forgiven," I said with a smile. I hugged him and he stiffened. As usual, The Emotionless Rock was impossible to hug, but I hugged him anyway. It felt good to have my best friend back.

**A/N *nervous smile* so… did you like it? *cringes* I couldn't help but think that my writing style is completely different from the original author's (I didn't wanna type your name out… sorry). So please review… I lied when I said I was a tad nervous…. I'm really really nervous. Like really nervous. But enough about how I'm shaking from nerves right now. I want your feedback! Good, bad, ugly? Please tell me! I appreciate constructive criticism! SO REVIEW!**

**Kels. Buttermilk! (RACHEL! If you're reading this…)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Mmm… Short chapter. I think. I'm not sure. I usually pre-write my chapters, but I haven't been doing so lately. For my other story, yeah, I pre-wrote all of that… just a hint for all you aspiring writers out there. If you want to write a story, but you don't have a computer handy, just forget it. Typing up a hundred pages of my sloppy handwriting is not fun. DISCLAIMER: Any characters you recognize from the Maximum Ride books by James Patterson belong to James Patterson. Depressing, isn't it? OCs except for Jack, Beth, and Rian are ALL MINE! *evil laugh* sorry for such a long A/N. I'll get on with the chapter now.**

_3__rd__ Person P.O.V- Iggy_

Iggy watched with a small smile as Max, the girl he loved, and Fang, the one that really loved Max, hugged and made up. He wasn't stupid. He knew that Fang wasn't a big fan of him, and quite honestly, Fang wasn't his cup of tea either. Max and Fang had been fighting ever since he'd shown up, The Gasman and Ari had filled him in.

He also knew that Max, no matter what she told herself, was _not_ in love with him. He knew whom she really loved, and it certainly wasn't him.

He wanted Max to be happy more than anything. She was a great girl and she deserved someone that loved her, but it wasn't him. He might love her, and it was selfish of him to want her, but he did.

He couldn't help but feel like Beth was being incredibly selfish in this. Yeah, she said she wanted the best for Max, but is that really what this was about? She wanted to be remembered well, that's what he thought. He thought this whole 'Max and Iggy' was a bunch of bull and he wanted it to be over with, even though he did want to be with Max.

But Fang deserved Max. He didn't. As much as it hurt to say that. Maybe he could draw this relationship out a little longer until Max came to her senses and realized how hopelessly in love she was with Fang. Not Iggy. He didn't want to end up more hurt than he already was.

**(A/N this is the Iggy/OC thing… XD I felt like Iggy needed some **_**real**_** love.)**

Iggy grinned at the black haired girl sitting next to him in their world history class. She'd been glaring at him all period. The teacher, he didn't remember his name, had moved him away from Max and Fang, two rows behind them, to be exact. This fit with his observation plans nicely.

The girl on his left was getting a little annoying, though she was pretty. She had long, mid-back length black hair that was straight-as-a-board. She had nice green eyes and she was wearing a blue tank top with a fire design on it and some black sweats that were pushed up to be knee length. He felt guilty because he had a girlfriend, but he caught himself staring nevertheless, and she glared at him again, narrowing her eyes.

"Can I help you?" he whispered, pretending to watch the movie about African history. Her expression hardened.

"Are you Iggy Haines?" She asked harshly, doodling on her notes. She drew a teenage boy with spiked black hair not unlike his own. She scribbled it out when she caught him looking.

"The one and only," he said with another grin. Maybe she was one of his fans.

"Oh." She drew a heart and then put a crack through it. He heard her mumbling, "The teacher must hate me… next to _Iggy Haines,"_ she mocked the sound of his name.

"Excuse me?" he asked, stealing her page of notes and looking at the drawings, handing it back, and watching her fold it up and put it in her brown canvas purse.

"I'm not a huge fan of your music." She tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"I figured."

"Why exactly are you in Manhattan?"

"It's a long story."

"Ah." She took out a new piece of paper and started doing a sketch. It was the same boy with the spiked up hair he'd seen her drawing earlier.

"Who's that? You draw him a lot." The girl tensed up a bit and he instantly regretted asking. "You don't have to answer that. I didn't realize it was a sensitive subject for you."

"I-it's fine. His name's Seth. An old boyfriend, but he was… Just forget it." She shook her head and drew his eyes, staring at them for a long time.

"Okay. So, do you mind telling me why you've been glaring at me all period?" He watched as she tweaked his eyes and then started on the rest of his facial features. She was a great artist.

"You're Iggy Haines," she said, as if that explained everything.

"And you have an issue with that?"

She scoffed. "Who doesn't? The girls that like your music are all fan-girl freaks. They're annoying with their 'Iggy Haines' posters or 'Iggy Haines' t-shirts. Hell, I bet they even have bras or something with your face on them. It's disgusting." She went back to her drawing and didn't look at him. He liked her attitude.

"You'd get along with my _girlfriend_, Max. It seems like she'd say the same sort of stuff, just not about me, of course."

The girl wrinkled her nose. "Ew, that Max chick's the exact kind of girl I'm talking about. I bet her room is covered- floor to ceiling- with posters of you. I should think she has all your CDs and knows where your parents live and everything. And you're _dating_ her? I'm surprised; you don't seem like the type to go for the crazy screaming fan-girls. Where'd you pick her up? At your latest 'behind the scenes with Iggy Haines' outing?" She obviously felt very strongly on this subject.

He laughed; he _really_ liked her attitude, even though she hated his girlfriend. He needed to remember that he actually _had_ a girlfriend in this situation. "No, her… Mom's a recording artist. I guess you could say she set us up. And I'm dubious about all that poster and t-shirt and bra stuff."

"Oh, think you can impress me with your big words? Using 'dubious'." She rolled her eyes, and with a mutter of "Boys," and a sigh, she went back to her drawing.

"I wasn't trying to impress you. I have a girlfriend, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember. Just quit bugging me, there is a movie to watch, ya know?" She finished the boy's mouth and nose and started on his hair, detailing it more.

"And you're one to talk," he said, motioning to the drawing, "You're really good, by the way." She blushed and covered the drawing with her arm.

"Thanks," she mumbled, hooking her hair behind her ear. She was wearing earrings with small metal, teeth looking things dangling off them. She shook her head a small amount and they clinked a little. She smiled slightly.

"So I never got your name."

"I know."

"Do you intend on telling me?"

"Not really."

"I can just ask Max what your name is."

"Jade." She answered quickly and Iggy smiled.

"It's nice to meet you, Jade," he said and held out his hand for her to shake. She ignored it.

"Whatever."

**A/N So… that was my second chapter. *nervous smile* did you like it? I hope you did. I wanna thank all my lovely reviewers! And the story alerts and author alerts and all those of you that added me to their favorites list! So, if you want a shout out next chapter, tell me what you thought of Jade, my original character. I invented her a while ago… and I'm not sure about her… I like her attitude XD and she'll eventually get over her hate for Max. Don't worry.**

**It **_**was**_** a short chapter after all… review?**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N Thanks to all my reviewers, first off! This chapter… it took me a while. Sorry about that. I hate writing stuff like the stuff between Max and Iggy at the end, but I'm told I'm good at it… whatever. And, as promised, shout outs!**

**Regular, run-o-the-mill shout outs go to: 4evaelli, youXsetXmyXsoulXalight and Freedom Requires A Battle Cry. You guys rock!**

**Special I-love-you-guys-so-much shout outs go to: HalesXxGriffiths and CrazyNerdyFangirl! You made me very happy with your honesty and saying exactly what I wanted to hear! You guys know which goes to which.**

**And the one and ONLY just-because-I-love-her/she-sort-of-made-me shout out goes to: I Spiked The Ice Cream. Woot. Joy. Can't you tell how excited I am?**

**And review replies! To Ari, reviewing chapter 13: I'm so sorry for your friend's mom **

**To Freedom Requires A Battle Cry (both reviews): Jade **_**is**_** a nasty child. Well, at sometimes. And am I a 'good author' or a 'Good Author, sit! Roll over! Good Author!' Haha, I'm so kidding XD**

**And a disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. I'm not planning on owning it either. Sadness.**

Soon Iggy, tall and pale, slouched into the living room. Eyes closed, he fell onto the floor next to the couch on accident. It was Friday morning and he was tired as usual.

"Hey, Ig, rise and shine," I said, laughing.

"Bite me," he mumbled sleepily from the floor.

"Come on Ig, you don't want me to make breakfast, so you?" That comment made him sit up immediately. He must've heard how bad my cooking was from Gazzy, Ari, and Angel.

"Fine," he grumbled, getting up and running into a wall before reaching me in the kitchen. I laughed when he rubbed his bright red forehead. "Your house hates me," he mumbled, making me giggle in a most un-Max-like way.

Twenty minutes later, Fang was outside my house, waiting for me and Iggy. We climbed in, me in the front and Iggy in the back. Iggy was still a little groggy, so he wasn't saying much.

"When are we going back to that recording place?" Fang asked me. I shrugged.

"I don't know, whenever you guys are ready to play that song live." Fang glanced at Iggy through rearview mirror.

"When do you think we can play it, Iggy?" he asked teasingly, knowing fully that Iggy wouldn't answer in a comprehensible manner.

"Oh- I dunno, mmm…" Iggy rested his head on the car window and closed his eyes.

"Be nice, Fang. You know he's not used to getting up so early," I said, trying not to laugh. Fang muttered darkly about something like, "…get used to… _normal life_, ha…" But we had pulled up to Nudge's house.

~~~~~ Oh! Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up!~~~~~

"I officially call this emergency band practice to order!" I said, feeling very Max-like and in charge. "Fang and Iggy need to practice their duet so we can get the band that record deal." Everyone stared at me as if I had gone insane. I gave them a 'what?' look and grinned, walking to my usual seat at the bar. Fang looked especially worried.

"Someone's rather… chipper today," he said, walking to his piano.

"What? I'm not allowed to be in a good mood every once in a while?" I asked. Fang shook his head, as if he was talking to himself and began to play the beginning of a song, not the duet, but stopped in the middle of it. I didn't question him because he started to sing the duet.

Iggy and Fang worked on the duet, making small tweaks here and there, but they weren't able to play and sing it all the way through yet. It was getting late and all of us had homework, so Iggy and I walked back to my house while Jack, Rian, and Dylan were driven home by Fang.

When we made it inside, my parents had gone out; we were home alone. I didn't think that was too smart of them, leaving two, hormonal, not to mention dating teenagers alone in a house, but hey. Whatever floats their boat.

Iggy sat on the couch in the living room and I joined him.

"Practice went pretty well," I said conversationally.

"Mmm, yeah, it did. We're still a long ways off from being able to perform it live, though. I'm having trouble with harmonizing parts and Fang can't get the background vocals on my part in key. But a couple more practices and we should be good. Fang's a talented musician," he said, holding my hand. The physical contact didn't make me feel quite the same as when Fang hugged me. I quickly dismissed all thoughts of Fang.

"But you're awesome, too, Ig. Don't forget that," I said, scolding him.

"I know, I know, but it seems like Fang has more..." he trailed off as he looked at me.

"Fang has more what?" I asked.

"I don't know… I think I had a point, but I just got distracted," he said, smiling widely at me.

"Oh? By what?"

"Or whom," he said, leaning closer to me. He smiled just as he kissed me. I thought I heard a faint click, but I dismissed it as I leaned into Iggy and kissed him back. A picture of Fang flashed through my head, but I replaced it with an image of the boy kissing me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~chapter break!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Third person~ Fang (I feel like Melinda in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson writing this! Haha…)

"Hey Fang!" Angel said, grinning broadly as Fang walked out to his car. She was outside playing and saw Fang as he was leaving.

"Oh, hey, Angel. How are you feeling? Not climbing any trees, are you?" She shook her head in a way that made most people melt at how cute she was.

"Fang, you love Max." It wasn't a question. Fang was taken aback, how did Angel figure it out? He wasn't in the mood for arguing, he'd seen Max and Iggy kissing in her front lawn today. He was still getting over his jealous rage.

"Yeah, I do," he said simply. She smiled sadly at him.

"Then why are you letting her and that Iggy boy get together?"

"It's a little complicated, honey."

"Why don't you just tell her you love her? Won't that make it all better?"

"I don't think so, Angel. She's with Iggy and there's not really anything I can do about it."

"Oh." And with that, Angel hobbled as best she could back to her house.

~!~

3rd person… still.

Fang was picking up some food on Sunday; milk and the like; at the grocery store for his mom when he saw IT. IT was staring him in the face at the checkout line. He tried to look the other way, but it was all he saw. Either a picture of them, or a girl with HIS face on their tie-dye shirts.

Iggy and Max. He hated that relationship. Iggy was _not _the guy for Max. Not. At. All. He wasn't saying that he _was_ (he actually was), but even Angel, _Angel_, a freaking seven year old could tell that Iggy wasn't the guy for Max.

Fang shook his head and tried to get thoughts of his best friend out of his head. He stepped into line and, unsuccessfully, ignored the pictures of Iggy and Max making out on her couch. He tried to calm himself by thinking that he _had_ in fact given Max her first _real_ kiss, and it wasn't that Sam guy. But Sam wasn't the issue. Now it was Iggy he had to worry about.

**A/N So I doubt that chapter drawing line actually showed up here on Fanfiction, but whatever. It looks cool on word XD**

**So if anyone want s a shout out NEXT chapter, they should tell me the name of the song and artist of said song I made a reference to this chapter. I Spiked The Ice Cream CANNOT enter this… contest of sorts.**

**Thanks for reading, now review! That's what that little button is there for! Even my adorable puppy thinks you should review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N Obviously, no one loves Kelsey. No one. Only, like, five people reviewed. I don't even think you guys **_**deserve**_** this chapter. You know you don't.**

**Well then. I'd like to thank **Aquapolartop, youXsetXmyXsoulXalight, Midge 102 (?), Taylorswiftfreak (?), and CrazyNerdyFangirl (special thanks to you for an idea XD) **for actually REVIEWING like the good readers they are. You should all look up to these five when reading a story.**

**And no other shout outs because it's quite obvious that no one listens to Relient K either. The song reference was to Maintain Consciousness by them.**

**This may come to a shock to a few of you (those of you that I don't know personally) but I will not be posting for a few weeks. My summer life is catching up with me, finally, and I'm going to Florida for a week. I will not have computer access there. I will, however, take a notebook and hand write on the eight-hour bus trip there and back, so don't worry.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. Or apparently, a very strong threatening appearance against my readers, considering only FIVE PEOPLE REVIEWED. Anyway, on to the chapter.**

First person (thought you should know…) ((And this is CrazyNerdyFangirl's idea… again. Major thanks go to you!))

There was a new girl at Manhattan High the next day. She was one of those 'I'm-so-pretty-that-I-can't-add-zero-and-zero' types. I was disgusted. I was even more disgusted when I was appointed to show her around. This meaning that she would meet my famous boyfriend and so-called 'hot' best friend. Fan-freaking-tastic.

"So, like, hi!" she said, twirling a lock of her honey blond hair around a long finger. Her nails were painted neon orange. Other than the way she dressed (the perverse ones of the male variety were _loving_ it) and her hair… and nails… she could've been my twin. We looked alike. Not even alike, we could have been freaking _twins._ I sub-consciously decided to call her 'Max II'.

"Um, hi," I said awkwardly. I slouched next to her while she whipped her head around the hallway like a puppy seeing something new. Her hair hit my face and made it sting. I lead her to my locker; hers was conveniently located three down from mine. Note my heavy use of sarcasm in the previous sentence.

"So, like, my name's, like, Brittany. What should I, like, call you? My, like, totally awesome tour guide!" I mentally cringed at her over-use of the word 'like' in her sentences. Max did _not_ like being called a 'totally awesome tour guide'.

"I'm Max," I said simply, gathering my books and spotting Iggy scanning the mass of high schoolers for me. I caught his eye and he grinned, making a beeline for me. Fang was behind him, following reluctantly. Here comes the squeal. 'Max II' squealed right on cue. And the,

"OMGEE! Is that, like, who I think it is?" she whisper shouted to me, synchronizing with my thoughts. No, it's Santa Clause, you ditz. Of course, I didn't say that aloud. And now it was time for the, "He's, like, coming over here! Max, Max, MAX! Do I look okay? Are you sure! What if he talks to me? Oh! Look at his hot friend! He's _so_ much hotter than Iggy, don't you think? Ohemgee! He's gonna talk to us! What do I do?" I simply rolled my eyes and tuned her out, as I was so used to Nudge's incoherent ramblings. Iggy smiled and kissed me, leaving 'Max II' dumbfounded.

"Hey," I said, breathless. Fang had conveniently looked away as we kissed, and it was a longer than usual morning kiss. Iggy had been… moving things right along of late. I didn't really like how fast he was going with this. I'd have to tell him about that. But I digress.

"Max, like, why didn't you, like, tell me you were…" I tuned her out and grinned at Fang, who was looking at the new girl in disgust.

"Who's she?" Iggy asked with a slight curl of the lip. I snickered as Fang turned away from Brittany as if she had the plague. I figured she'd started ogling him, now.

"She's the new girl," I said. Only Fang would notice the malice I had subtly added to my words. He snickered. We started towards AP Biology, Fang splitting off from me and Iggy with Brittany following close behind us.

Iggy and I showed Brittany to her first class, thank God we only had Latin with her; I don't think I could survive longer than an hour with her.

~!~

Third person… XD

Football season was over, unfortunately for Fang. He couldn't take Max out after games anymore; he couldn't see her cheering him on anymore. He could hardly believe how crazy he was for her. He could never, ever get her out of his head. Everything made him think of Max. All his new songs were about her, he dreamt about her, he even had a picture of her in his pocket most of the time. God, he felt like a stalker.

Iggy and Max were seriously getting on his nerves. All they did around him was hold hands and have private conversations, completely forgetting that they weren't alone. Fang figured that Iggy wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't dating _his _Max. Iggy was cool when he wasn't with Max, he made jokes and laughed easily. His love for bombs that he still hadn't told Max about made him even cooler. It was amazing how much one can learn about someone they hated in a few band practices.

The worst part about it was that Fang could tell that Iggy had doubts about Max. He had suspicions about Iggy's real intentions. He'd seen Beth, Max's mom, talking to Iggy and he'd heard small snippets of the conversations; she was dropping ten ton hints about Iggy and Max getting together. Fang was enraged when he heard those conversations, or saw them taking place, because Beth had said the same things to him before Iggy had come along. He was pretty sure that Beth was setting them up and that Iggy didn't really _want_ to be with Max, like Fang did. Plus, he'd seen Iggy flirting with that unstable black haired girl in World History, Jade.

To sum things up, Fang needed to talk to Iggy and get some ideas in his head before he went breaking _his_ Max's heart.

Fang found Iggy sitting in Max's backyard with a guitar, playing a random tune. Max was inside watching Angel, so they were alone.

"Hey, man. Can we talk?" Fang asked, sitting across from Iggy. He glanced up and set his guitar aside, nodding.

"Yeah, Fang. What about?"

"Max."

"Couldn't say I didn't see that one coming. What about her?"

"Why are you dating her?" No point in beating around the bush.

"I like her, why else?"

"Just saying, I saw Beth talking to you about it. She said the same sorts of stuff to me before you came along. How do I know she didn't threaten you or something and you're just dating Max to make her happy?" Fang was out of breath after that. He didn't usually talk that much.

"Fang, I really _do _like Max, okay? I appreciate you worrying about her and all, but she is _my_ girlfriend, so let me worry about her, 'kay?"

"But I'm her _best_ friend, I've known her since kindergarten. I'm just worried that Beth pressured you or you feel bad for her. Because if that's true, you'll break Max's heart and I would never be able to forgive you if that happened. I already don't like you and I'd hate to make it worse." Max picked that moment to notice Fang in the backyard. She poked her head out the door.

"Hey, Fang! What're you doing over here? Do you wanna come in?" Fang masked his emotions and turned to her.

"Ah, no thanks, Max. I was just leaving; Mom needs me around the house today, I'll see you later, okay?"

Fang had the perfect idea. As soon as he reached his house, he remembered that Brittany girl at school. She looked like Max. She was stupid, but that didn't matter. Max had succeeded in making him jealous, though it _was_ unintentional; why couldn't he do the same?

Max being jealous was sure to be a funny sight, but Fang would_ love_ to know that she cared who he dated, even though she wasn't supposed to. He would ask the Brittany girl out the next day. He'd _prove_ to Max that he _should_ be allowed to care whom she dated.

**A/N Sorry for all these short chapters… I just wrote a super duper long one, over three thousand words, but that chapter's not coming up for a loooong time. I hate this Brittany (Max II) girl. Girls like that seriously piss me off. And I'd like to say that Ai-san's 'ditz' impersonation was the basis for Brittany's character XD.**

**Like I said in the beginning A/N, I won't be updating for a couple weeks, so don't freak out if I don't post a new chapter for two-three weeks.**

**And now, I want you to review. I admit, last chapter was rather short and boring, but I don't care. I want you to review this one.**

**Please, in your reviews, be honest. Tell me if you hated it, but tell me what I could do to improve as well; flames are not accepted with me. One last thing about my reviews/reviewers. Please use proper grammar and English. 'Tis a pet peeve of Kelsey's and she hates people who don't use commas and periods in the correct places. Been meaning to say that for a while.**

**So review. Now.**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N So here I am again. Hi. What's up? Don't answer that, it was a stupid question. Thanks for reviewing last chapter. More of you did than is usual, which made me happy. I'm not going to be one of those 'I won't update unless I have (#) reviews.' I know not that many people read this, so… yeah.**

**I'm back from Florida, if you couldn't tell. I don't even have words to explain how amazing the experience was. I know some of you aren't Christians, and I'm NOT trying to convert you or anything. I just wanna say that **_**I**_** had a life-changing experience while there with my church group. Anyway, a jellyfish stung me (twice!). It was slightly (more like a lot) painful, but they were little stings. I saw a school of 12 to 20 stingrays and swam with them. I also swam with a shark on accident. I saw a jellyfish and a sea turtle. It was so so so so so much fun.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, no matter how much I want to.**

**(This chapter is for those of you that want more Jade/Iggy interaction. A reader ((and a couple close friends)) wanted more of them in here and asked me. So here you are. I hope you enjoy. Especially you, Ai-san.) And PLEASE read the author's note at the end. It's very very very important. If anything, just read the ****underlined**** part.**

_Third Person_

Jade couldn't believe she had to deal with _Iggy_ _Haines_ for the rest of her junior year. It was sure to be torture. Xela would freak if she heard that Jade had met Iggy Haines. Of course, Jade rarely talked to her anymore, so there really wasn't a point.

It didn't help that he was actually nice, not stuck up as she always imagined famous people to be. No, he actually talked to her, instead of cowering away in fear from 'mentally unstable girl Jade', like everyone else did. He talked to her as if she was normal human being and she hated it. She hated to be proved wrong about a person, just like anyone else did. She wanted him to be mean and stop talking to her, treating her like the grief-ridden shell of a girl that everyone else did, but at the same time she didn't want that. It was nice to have _someone_ to talk to, even if he _was_ a wrongly famous terrible singer. God, she couldn't believe she'd just thought that.

She shouldn't be friends with him, she knew, but it _was_ tempting. He didn't remind her at all of Seth, except for his hair, but even that was a different color than her boyfriend's. Gosh, she needed to stop thinking about Seth. Why couldn't she just accept the fact that he was-

_RING._ The bell rang, marking the end of her fifth period French class and the start of her sixth period World History class with Iggy. _Great._

She walked in a slumped into her seat, giving an inaudible groan as she sat. This had to be her least favorite class. The fact that Iggy Haines was in it didn't make it much better.

Iggy walked in with Max and Fang, the oblivious lovebirds. Everyone knew that Fang was in love with Max. Everyone _except_ Max. This was one of the reasons Jade really _didn't_ like Max. Jade knew what love felt like, and it really pissed her off when someone had it, but threw it away by dating some wrongly-popular-horrible-singer-jerk like Iggy Haines. She needed to stop thinking about him. He slouched into his seat, attempting to be 'cool', but looking like an idiot when he missed the chair. Jade couldn't stop herself from smirking.

"Hey," he said up to her, as if sitting on the floor after missing his chair was the most normal thing.

"That's a, um, interesting choice of seat. Mr. Kerner won't be too happy that you've changed your own seat without asking him. I suggest you sit in your seat and stop acting like an idiot," Jade said, stopping herself from giggling. She couldn't _believe_ this boy was making her almost giggle. This wasn't good; she needed to stop talking to him.

"I really thought that the chair was their when I sat down, Jade. It appears as if I was a foot off."

"Yeah, looks like Iggy 'Cool' Haines needs to get his eyes checked. Or his ego," Jade muttered under her breath. Max turned around, and seeing Iggy on the floor, she laughed out loud.

"He did the same thing a couple days ago. He tried to lie down on the couch, but he completely missed." She giggled, giving Iggy a 'you-are-_so -_weird' look, and turned around to talk to Fang.

"Looks like you _really_ need to get your eyes checked. You missed a _couch?_ The things are six feet long," Jade commented bitterly, pulling out her notes and copying the beginning class work. Iggy copied her actions and didn't speak to her for the rest of class.

~!~

_First person~ Max_

Fang, Iggy, and I had Latin class with Brittany. I'm sure you can practically feel the waves of excitement rolling off me.

"Iggy," Fang said, just as Iggy was about to sit behind me. "You can have my seat today, with Max. I think I'm gonna go sit with Brittany." Fang was always nice to the new kids, so I didn't think anything of him sitting with a new girl. It was when Brittany came up to me after class that things got weird.

"Oh my God, Max! Like, did you like, hear?" She asked, jumping up and down in her splatter painted vans. They didn't really fit her personality, but that was beside the point.

"Hear what? I hear a lot of things, Ma-Brittany. You need to be more specific." I almost told her to 'use her big girl words!'

"About Nick and like, me!" It took me a minute to realize she meant Fang.

"What about you and Nick?"

"He, like, totally asked me out today! Isn't that, like, awesome?" She continued jumping up and down, hitting my arm when she came down and squealing as she jumped up. I nodded and leaned back into Iggy as he came up behind me, putting an arm around my stomach.

"Uh, yeah, Brittany. That's great for you and F-Nick." I felt Iggy chuckle.

"F-Nick?" he mumbled into my ear. I hit his stomach with a clenched fist.

"Shut up." I saw the Jade girl walking down the hallway; the one that Iggy was talking to in World History class today. For some reason, I always got the feeling that she didn't like me very much. Iggy waved at her using his hand that wasn't around me and she rushed off, not looking at us. Brittany looked at Iggy weirdly.

"Why were you, like, waving at _her,_ Iggy? I heard she's, like, mentally unstable or something. Someone, like, told me that her boyfriend, like—" I leapt forward, out of Iggy's hold and covered her mouth, glaring at her. I didn't really talk to Jade, but I knew what a secret was, and I knew _this one_ wasn't supposed to get out. She would tell Iggy when she was ready. Not when Brittany was ready to spill a secret.

"Don't say anything about that. She was hurt very badly when _that_ happened, and I'm sure she would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about it," I growled, still glaring at her. Iggy cleared his throat and I stepped away, back to my boyfriend. Fang was there, now, watching us with interest. There was a smirk on his face, as if he was enjoying watching his best friend beat almost beat up his girlfriend.

"Nick!" Brittany squealed, running to Fang and tackling him in a hug. Iggy took my backpack and we waited for Fang and Brittany to finish hugging. Fang _was_ our ride home, after all. Just when I thought they were done hugging, Fang glanced at us out of the corner of his eye, thinking I wouldn't notice, and kissed Brittany on the mouth. I couldn't stop my reaction.

"F-Nick! I _never_ wanted to see that! Iggy and I want to get home sometime soon, you know!" I exclaimed, laughing. Fang didn't seem to hear me, he just leaned more into Brittany. I rolled my eyes and looked to Iggy. "How are we going to get home?"

"I guess we could walk," Iggy said, overly loud, "Though it _is_ kind of cold today, and that jacket doesn't look very warm, Max." That seemed to catch Fang's attention; he pulled away and turned to us.

"Oh, sorry, guys." He looked to Brittany, "I'll see you later, okay? How about a date tomorrow night? It's Friday tomorrow." She nodded eagerly and Fang walked with us out of the school.

~!~

_Third Person_

Fang pulled Iggy aside before he followed Max into her house.

"Iggy, could you, uh, talk to Max for me?" He asked, giving him a hopeful look.

"Yeah, what about?" Iggy asked almost bitterly. Fang scowled.

"Look, I don't like asking you this as much as you, so just deal with it, okay? I need you to ask her what she thinks of uh, what's her name?"

"Brittany?" Iggy supplied.

"Yeah, her. What Max thinks of me and her going out." Iggy nodded, starting to get what Fang wanted to know.

"You wanna know if Max is jealous, right?" Fang almost blushed and nodded. Iggy clapped his shoulder.

"It's no problem, man. I'll see you later."

~!~

_First Person~ Max_

"Hey, Max," Iggy said, coming into my room and sitting next to me on my bed. I smiled and rested my head on his shoulder.

"Hey, Ig. What's up?"

"What do you think about Fang and Brittany?" He asked out of no where. He was bad at being subtle. I could tell Fang put him up to this.

"Why do you ask?"

"Are you jealous of Brittany?" So this was a big, elaborate plan to make me jealous, I see. Fang's going to have to try a lot harder if he wants _me_ to be jealous. I'm more like disgusted at this point.

"Not really. Fang can date whomever he pleases. It's not like I _want_ him. I have you." I grinned and pecked him on the lips. Iggy smiled and kissed me back, putting a gentle hand on the back of my neck, pulling me to him. It wasn't until I realized I was lying on my back, kissing him, that I stopped.

"Ig, Ig, can we take this a bit slower?" I asked, out of breath. He opened his eyes and lay down next to me, nodding.

"Yeah, Max... sorry. I-I wasn't thinking. I'm sure you have homework to do, so I'll leave you to it." He got up and left the room, closing the door gently behind him.

~!~

_Third Person (I'm sorry this is switching around so much... I'm trying to make my chapters longer, so I'm combining what would originally be two chapters...)_

Fang couldn't believe Max _wasn't jealous._ He did everything to make her jealous! He sat with Brittany, asked her out, hugged her, he even kissed her in front of Max! And what did she do? She used his over protectiveness of her to her advantage and guilted him into taking her home. He _hated_ it when she did that, but he couldn't help but love her for it.

Yes, he loved Max, in case you hadn't figured it out yet. And he'd tried to tell her so many times. At school, the concert, school again. Gosh, he hated being in love. It was so annoying sometimes. Don't misunderstand, Fang _loved_ Max and the feeling was so wonderful when he looked at her, but when she was with Iggy and giving him the look that she usually reserved for Fang and only Fang, it hurt him so much. He just wanted to scream that he loved her so he could get it out of his system for good.

Unfortunately, that probably wouldn't go over too well with Iggy, considering he was _dating_ her. Max didn't love him and it was breaking his heart; _she_ was breaking his heart and it felt like she knew it. She'd figured out that he was trying to make her jealous; he could tell from Iggy's recount of her words. He thought of something that would go perfectly into a song.

(The One I'm Waiting For by Relient K~ I like them, if you can't tell)

_The way that girl can break a heart,_

_It's like a work of art,_

_And this is the worst part:_

_She knows it._

It was going to drive him insane if he didn't tell her soon.

**A/N Sorry for the long wait. Like I said, I was in Florida. Also, sorry for all the italics and switching of perspectives. That can get confusing. I was trying to get a longer chapter, and I think it worked. Without the author's notes it was... 1,903 words. And that's longer than any of the chapters I have written (not youXsetXmyXsoulXalight) even with the author's notes. So I think my mission was accomplished.**

**I said in the beginning author's note that there was something important in this one. So here it is. I'm gonna skip a line so it's more likely for people to see it.**

**Text 'Think' to 50555 to donate $5.00 to children's education in Kenya.**** You have no clue how much it would mean to me if you did. Go to w w w . thinkbigstuf . c o m for more details. If the URL didn't show up, I'll put a link on my profile. Please. If you do, please PM me or say so in your review. It would mean so much to me (and those kids in Kenya) if you did.**

**Now that I said that, please REVIEW! This chapter was longer, so maybe you'll have more to say! Click the button. Now.**


	19. Chapter 19

**I bet you hate me. I usually update once or twice a week, but here I am, almost a month after my last update. Ugh. I have an explanation, I swear. Okay, so I write everything on one laptop, I named him Fred. I'm typing this on Fred. The only thing is that 'Fred' doesn't have internet access. Thus, I use the internet on my other laptop (dubbed George. Notice a pattern?) to post my chapters up on Fanfiction. Now, George is a teenager laptop (Fred is an old man) and he decided to be depressive and rebellious. He committed suicide (The cord that charged him broke from over-use on my parents' part). So we have to take George to the shop (my parents are lazy and it might take a little while). That leaves me at the library, where I am now, using their slow (as hell) internet to post this chapter. I shall use the next paragraph to rant on how this slow update could have been avoided. Please skip it if you do not wish to see me use improper language and call my parents disrespectful things.**

**Oh. My. God. This whole thing could have been avoided if my damn parents would have let me on the damn internet when the freaking computer **_**wasn't **_**broken. Did they realize it would have taken me all of ten minutes to post this chapter and check my e-mail? No. Of course not. They never listen to me. And they didn't even **_**realize**_** there was an issue with the internet laptop until 11 o'clock! Even I could've told them the damn power cord was broken before they inspected it with their 'all knowing parents' eyes'. Anyone else know what I'm talking about? And now my almost senior brother has to use MY WRITING COMPUTER for his damn schoolwork because my parents were too damn lazy to pay attention to me when I said that the computer wasn't working during the business day! They're too damn lazy to actually **_**take**_** the computer to the fixer-person for two weeks, and when they **_**do**_**, he's not going to actually order the new cord for a week, then it'll take three weeks for it to get here, another week for him to fix the wireless, and then my parents won't go and get it for another week. So I'm basically without access to the internet besides the library for the REST OF MY FREAKING SUMMER. Not to mention that I'll have summer work to do and the only laptop in working order doesn't work with our printer. So I'm cut off from the entire world for the rest of my summer and it's my damn parents' fault.**

**That rant felt good… I did change my penname. I'm Xx-Twitch-xX now, credit goes to Ai-**_**chan**_** (more on that later) for the name. And… I have someone here with me today… say hi to Ai-chan (she wants me to call her 'chan' now. I was calling her 'san') everyone! She's helping me write this chapter (and spending the night at my house tonight). (This all took place **_**before**_** that rant.)**

**Ai-chan: *aside to Kelsey* What the heck am I supposed to say here? *hums along to **_**Newsies**_*** Um, well hello readers. :) I hope everyone is enjoying this story. If you want something really fun though, you should read her story "Floating Laptops?". It's really funny. :) Well anyways…I hope you enjoy this chapter! Review!**

**That was Ai-chan everyone! She's the one that acts like a 'ditz'. (I based Brittany's character off that impersonation.) She's head banging to her iPod right now… Enjoy the chapter, though I doubt you will. It's a filler. And I don't own Maximum Ride.**

**THIS IS VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT! READ THIS! I PROBABLY WILL NOT BE UPDATING FOR A WHILE. MAYBE THE REST OF THE SUMMER. IF YOU WISH TO KNOW WHY, PLEASE READ THE PRECEDING AUTHOR'S NOTE.**

_First Person~ Max_

Winter had snuck up on me like a snake in the grass. The next thing I knew, we were out for 'Winter Break' because the school board had to be politically correct. Living in New York, it was odd that we didn't get snow until December, but today was December 15th, and we were getting our first snow of the season. Angel was ecstatic, to say the least. Me, you may ask? I was less than excited for the cold season to be here.

Snow. I hated the stuff. It was wet, cold and all too common in New York. I was much more of a sun/tan/beaches girl. Plus, it blinded you if you went outside when the sun was shining. Another thing I don't get about snow? How could it stay there when the sun was out? It's supposed to melt when the sun shines on it, just like Frosty the Snowman, not multiply itself.

Enough of my rant on snow. Currently, I was trying to enjoy my winter break and was sleeping in. The clock read seven o'clock when Angel burst into my room, clad in her marshmallow winter coat, jeans, with two pairs of socks on and snow boots in hand. She'd recently gotten all of her casts off.

"Max, Max! Get up! It snowed last night and I want you to play with me in it!" She shouted, hopping up to turn my light on. I groaned and pulled the covers over my head.

"Angel… it's too early. Come bug me in five hours." I felt her clambering onto my bed.

"Ma-ax! No! It'll all be gone by then!" She complained, beginning to jump up and down on my bed.

"Angel, you and I both know that the snow is going to be here until March," I groaned. "Now come back at noon and I _might_ consider playing with you out there. Why don't you go over to Fang's house and ask him to play with you? I'm sure he'd be more than willing."

"But Fang's annoying girlfriend Brittany is over at his house, I already went over there and she kicked me out." I could hear the pout in Angel's voice. I rolled my eyes and sat up, throwing off my covers.

"Fine, I'll play with you. Just don't expect me to be happy about it."

~!~

A snowball fight with Gazzy and Ari later, I was freezing. I dragged Angel back inside and sat her down, making both of us a cup of hot chocolate. It was noon by now, and Iggy still wasn't up. Jeb and Mom had both gone to work before I left, so I was in charge until they got back.

"Here, Angel. Drink up," I said, giving her a mug full of hot chocolate. She shivered and wrapped her small hands around it, smiling. She let it cool before taking a big sip.

"Mmm… thanks, Max. It's great," she said, her feet dangling off the chair in which she was sitting.

A few minutes later, Iggy stumbled into the kitchen and seeing me sitting at the island in our kitchen, sat next to me. He eyed my cup sleepily.

"It's hot chocolate. Angel and I were having a snowball fight with the boys," I told him. He just nodded sleepily and rested his head on my shoulder.

"How can you stand to be so… _awake_ this early?" I laughed.

"Iggy, it's noon. Angel woke me up at seven, you're lucky she didn't get to you." I patted the back of his head and he sat up, smiling at me softly.

"I guess I am," he said, smiling at Angel. She frowned and cocked her head at Iggy, then turned back to her drink, staring into it.

"Come on, Iggy. We can go to my room or something." I said while standing and pulling Iggy with me.

~!~

_Third Person~ Fang_

Fang felt his phone buzz in his pocket and he pulled it out hoping that it would be Max. His smile fell to a grimace as he realized it was Brittany. That's right, Max was never up before noon during breaks from school. He put the phone to his ear and collapsed onto his bed, frowning.

"Hey," he said, his voice devoid of life as he answered the phone.

"Hi Nick! Like, ohemgee! Did you like, see the snow?"

Fang rolled his eyes in reply, though she couldn't see it. "No," he said, sarcasm dripping from his tone. She didn't seem to notice.

"Well you should like, totally go outside! It's so pretty! I never saw this much snow in Florida! Like, ever!" He could practically hear her bouncing up and down.

"Well you know, it doesn't tend to snow there often," he remarked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. It was still a little early for Fang; he hadn't been sleeping well lately. He figured dating Brittany and the fact that Iggy and Max were together had been stressing him. It was around six thirty right now. He was too tired to wonder why Brittany was awake this early.

"I know, silly! I was just saying!" She giggled obnoxiously. "So like, when can I like, come over?"

Fang stopped in the middle of running a hand through his messy hair and stared through his peripheral vision at his arm, trying to see the phone. "Um, I'm sorry. What?"

"Nick, you're so silly! You need to listen more! I asked when I could come over!"

"Today?" He asked, already knowing where this was going.

"No, like, next year. Of course today silly-goose!"

"Um, I don't know. When do you want to come over?"

"Well I guess it doesn't really matter. I'm already like, half-way there anyways!" He groaned inaudibly.

"If you were already headed over, why did you even ask?" He was already annoyed and she hadn't even squealed yet.

"Well Nicky-bear, I just-" Fang cut her off.

"Whoa, what did you just call me?"

"Nicky-bear! What, can I like, not have a nickname for you?"

"Look, I'm too tired to deal with this right now. Just… we'll talk when you get here, alright?" He held the phone away from his ear. There's that squeal.

"Okay Nicky-poo! See you soon! Love you!" His ears hurt even after holding the phone away from his head.

"Yeah, yeah. Bye." He hung up before she could scream goodbye again.

Fang fell back onto his bed and closed his eyes. He was about to fall back asleep when either the doorbell had a seizure, or Brittany arrived. He groaned and clambered down his ladder and padded down the stairs to the front door. He opened it after he mentally prepared himself, remembering that this was so he could make Max jealous, though it didn't seem to be working.

"Nicky-bear!" She tackled him in a hug, still not realizing that Fang just wasn't a huggy guy. He awkwardly hugged her back, pulling back quickly. "Where's your room, Nicky?"

"Just call me Nick," he growled, leading her to the stairs just as the doorbell rang again. Fang opened the door and saw Angel standing in front of him, smiling widely and clad in her winter clothes.

"Hi Fang!" She exclaimed, waving a mitten covered hand.

"Mmm…" was the best response he could come up with. Brittany came up behind him and wrapped her arms around Fang's stomach.

"Nicky, who's the brat?" He turned his head so he could see Brittany in his peripheral vision.

"This is Max's little sister, Angel," he mumbled.

"Fang! I was wondering if you cou—" Brittany cut the seven year old off.

"Nick and I are very busy, little girl. Now run on home and get your mommy to play with you or something," Brittany said slowly, making herself sound even more stupid (if that was possible) than normal. She made a shooing motion with a hand. "Go on, shoo." Angel gave Fang a confused look before running across the street to her own house.

Fang shut the door and turned back to Brittany, thinking it was Max at first. He almost asked why she was holding him like she was, but then remembered that she was just a look alike. He mentally groaned as Brittany kissed him sloppily. He was disgusted at first, but then his mind tricked him. All of a sudden, he was happily kissing Max.

When they finished, Fang couldn't help but be disappointed.

What he wouldn't give to have Max to himself…

**Again, sorry that took so long… for a crappy chapter, too. I feel terrible or not updating for so long… **

**Cough. Hack. *runs to the bathroom, thinking she'll throw up* Ugh… I'm sick, if you couldn't tell… Well, not **_**actually**_** sick, but I feel like it. I was watching the Brazilian soccer game with some Brazilian friends of mine Sunday, and they made this dessert stuff. My mom said it was made from the 'Yucca' plant. Change that second c to a k and take off the a. That's how I feel after eating it. It was like applesauce flavored fish eggs… *shivers even though she's not cold***

**Well… Ai-chan isn't here anymore… she left yesterday afternoon, but I'd like to say that the whole 'Fang and Brittany on the phone' stuff was all her. Well, the dialogue was, I wrote the descriptive parts…**

**Ai-chan tells me to advertise here. So, go click the link to my profile up at the top of the page and scroll down to 'My Stories'. Click on 'Floating Laptops?' and read the first chapter. If you liked it, review and keep going, if not, review saying what I could do better (no Flames…) and then go on with your life. I just want you to read it. Please. *taunts* Jade is in it… *giggles as she reads something from this story, then clutches her aching stomach from the effort***

**R.E.V.I.E.W. I'm not going to waste my time making an acronym for that. So review. Now before I force the apple sauce flavored fish eggs down your throat and make you want to throw up like I do right now.**


	20. Chapter 20

***shoves the gross, applesauce flavored fish egg things down the throats of readers that didn't review* I'm sorry. I didn't want to do that, but I had to teach you to review. It was a hard lesson to learn wasn't it?**

***flaunts her learner permit in the faces of readers that cannot drive* I CAN DRIVE! Well, I have to have a 'licensed driver over the age of 21' in the front seat, but still! Only… six months until I can drive without the adult! YES!**

**Oh! I have three dogs… just a thought… You guys know Total right? Of course you do… why are you reading a fanfic about Maximum Ride if you've never read the books? Whatever, well… one of my dogs… I think she's related to Total in some way. Or was experimented on by The School. This morning, she ate birdseed… She also runs like a rabbit and looks like mix between a cat and a mouse. I have come to the conclusion that she is not actually a dog, but a rabbit-mouse-bird-cat hybrid that happens to **_**look**_** like a dog. We got her from the pound, so it all makes sense!**

**Disclaimer: Maximum Ride is not mine... Never plan to own it either...**

Before I knew it, Christmas was here. I had managed to go a while without noticing the Christmas lights and trees decorating my neighborhood, but now it finally hit me. In the 'Christmas spirit' as they called it, Mom and Jeb had gone out and bought a real tree on Christmas Eve. We were going to stay up late decorating it and talking. I just wanted my sleep.

Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas. Everyone's always so happy and generous; it always manages to rub off on me. However, staying up until midnight against my own will and decorating a prickly, smelly, and overly tall Christmas tree wasn't exactly my idea of a good time.

"And Angel puts the star on top," Mom said with a grin. Jeb picked her up and Angel topped the tree, announcing our completion of the Christmas tree. I was sitting with Iggy on the couch, relaxing and almost asleep. I cheered half-heartedly, thinking I could finally sleep. Iggy laughed at my sleepy look and supported me.

"I'm going to sleep, now," I mumbled, smiling sleepily at my family.

"Goodnight, Max. We'll see you tomorrow," Mom said, smiling at me and kissing my cheek lightly. She gave Iggy a proud smile as he helped me up the stairs to my room. He lied me down, pulling the covers over my neck. He kissed my forehead.

"Sleep well, Max," he whispered, and his face transformed into Fang's; don't ask me why, I was tired.

"Goodnight, Fa- I mean Iggy."

~!~

"Max! Max! Wake up! Get up, get up, get up!" Angel shouted, bursting through my door and jumping on my bed. She didn't bother turning the light on. "It's Christmas and Santa came last night! He left presents for us!"

"Angel, leave me alone… I stayed up late with you guys last night. Go away." The light turned on and my mom spoke up.

"Really, Max. Angel has been very patient. It's nine o'clock already; she waited until now to wake you up. Now get up." I reluctantly rose and pulled a jacket on, walking into the living room. There were brightly wrapped presents everywhere. Iggy was slumped on the couch, his head resting on his fist. I slumped next to him, resting my head on his shoulder.

"I'm sleepy," I complained to his ear. He just nodded. Angel was happy to pass out the presents. Once we all had our gifts, Angel tore into the biggest box with her name on it, it revealed the dollhouse that she'd been wanting lately. She squealed with pleasure.

I opened my smallest present from my mom and Jeb, revealing a new set of keys. That sure woke me up.

"What kind…?" I asked quietly. Mom grinned.

"A Mustang, brand new. It's in the garage." I grinned again.

"Thanks so much, Mom, Je- Dad!"

Iggy gave me a ring, which I immediately put on; it was my birthstone, garnet. **(That's January's birthstone, if my information is correct.)**

~!~

Iggy pulled me to the side after we were all done opening presents. He'd gotten a new guitar and a nice notebook for songs. He led me to his room with his new acoustic guitar. He sat on his bed and smiled up at me.

"I wrote you a song," he said quietly.

"Another one?" I asked. He nodded and began to play. I could tell the song was for an electric guitar, but he made it sound great on an acoustic. (Beautiful Love by The Afters)

_"Far away I feel your beating heart,  
All alone beneath the crystal stars,  
Staring into space,  
What a lonely face,  
I try to find my place,  
With you._

_What a beautiful smile,  
Can it stay for a while?_

_On this beautiful night,  
Will make everything right,  
My beautiful la-love,  
My beautiful love._

_Larger than the moon my love for you,  
Worlds collide, but heaven pulls us through,  
A secret of the world,  
Is risen in the stars,  
I'm carrying your heart,  
In mine._

_What a beautiful smile,  
Can it stay for a while?_

_On this beautiful night,  
Will make everything right,  
My beautiful la-love,_

_Maybe a greater thing will happen,  
Maybe all will see.  
Maybe your love will catch like fire,  
As it burns through me._

_What a beautiful smile,  
Can it stay for a while?_

_On this beautiful night,  
Will make everything right,_

_What a beautiful smile,  
Can it stay for a while?_

_On this beautiful night,  
Will make everything right,  
My beautiful la, la, la, la love,  
La, la, la, la, love  
My beautiful la, la, la, la love,  
La, la, la, la, love  
My beautiful love."_ His voice faded out and he looked up to me nervously. I grinned.

"That was great, Iggy!"

"Was it really?" He asked nervously. He set his guitar to the side and I sat next to him. I hugged him close to me.

"It was beautiful, Iggy. I loved it," I said into his hair. He pulled back and searched my eyes, then leaned in and kissed me.

~!~

**Dammit… freaking short chapter… most of the chapter was the song… Well, I got stuck on this chapter, I'm sorry. Kill me, whatever. If you kill me though, I won't be around to finish this story. Ha.**

**You're lucky I convinced my older brother to take me to the library or I wouldn't be updating. We're getting a new computer (His name is gonna be Ron), so expect updates sooner after that. We're getting him in August, during the tax free day, so it'll be a month or so of scarce updates. Entertain yourselves with other stories. You'll live without me.**

**Kay! Go to Aqupolartop's profile and read her story, Only In This World! Seriously, it's an original plot, original characters, original everything! She is an amazing writer (better than me, for sure!) and she needs some committed readers, other than me! So go read before I make you!**

**Now, I want you to review. Chapters will be getting longer, for sure. I really got stuck on this one. REVIEW.**


	21. Chapter 21

**All those of you that own or have access to the fifth **_**Maximum Ride**_** book (sorry Rachel), **_**Max**_**, I want you to do something for me. Open your book to page 92. Count fourteen lines down, and look at the second word. That certain three-letter word will be in this chapter, but not because of all the reviews I received asking for that certain word, but because I had planned there to be that certain word in this chapter. (Get your mind out of the gutter, perverted readers. Look at the reviews page if you want to know what I'm talking about.)**

**I was at Border's the other day, looking at a **_**Twilight**_** (*gags*) display. I laughed and walked off, right as a woman said, "Who cares about **_**vampires?**_** I'm perfectly happy being mortal." It made my day.**

**I don't own **_**Maximum Ride.**_** Do I look like a balding old man (*shudders*) to you through your computer? No, I look like a teenage girl with her FULL HEAD OF HAIR and NO children OR grandchildren…**

"_I'll watch the night turn light blue,  
But it's not the same without you,  
Because it takes two to whisper quietly.  
The silence isn't so bad,  
'Till I look at my hands and feel sad,  
Cause the spaces between my finger are right where yours fit perfectly."_ My phone blasted _Vanilla Twilight_ by Owl City, one of my favorite songs at the time. I pulled it out of my pocket and checked the caller ID.

"Yo, Fang." I said. I was in my room a few days after Christmas after coming back from driving my new Mustang. I'd already banned Ari from even touching it.

"Hey, Max. Um, Iggy was supposed to tell you this, but he might have forgotten. The song we're doing for the duet, Cottonmouth? Yeah, we can perform it live. I called the studio and set a date for going in… Does tomorrow work for you?"

"Yeah, Fang. That's great! We're finally gonna get a record deal!"

~!~

"Okay boys, the recording date is January the seventh, that's a bit more than a week from today, alright? Be sure to e-mail or fax **(Hahahahahahaha. I'm hilarious, no? I told you there'd be that certain three-letter word!) **us the list of songs before that date, okay?" The manager of the recording studio told Fang, Dylan, Jack, and Rian, while Iggy and I stood off to the side. I had a huge smile on my face; _finally,_ they were getting the break they deserved.

We left the studio and all piled into Fang's SUV. I rode in the front next to Fang. The boys in the back were all loud, so they couldn't hear us speaking.

"You excited?" I asked him. He smirked at me and nodded.

"We'll really have to work on learning all our songs really well," he mused.

"Yeah, do you have enough stuff for a new record?" As far as I knew, he only had four or five songs, not nearly enough for a full-length record.

"I've been working on some new stuff, and I think you're forgetting one song that I sang for you." He gave me a pointed look while he was at a stop light. I didn't know what he was talking about until I met his eyes. Oh. The one he sang and then… kissed me. I blushed and looked away from him, finding sudden interest in the trees zooming past us.

"Right," I mumbled, still not daring to look at him.

"Max, can you just… never mind. We can talk later," he said, glancing heatedly in the rearview mirror, at Iggy, I suppose.

I rolled my eyes when he wasn't looking and stayed silent for the remainder of the car ride.

~!~ **(The three-letter word! [In case you haven't figured it out yet, the word is 'fax'. *rolls her eyes at clueless readers and imitates the spam of reviews*] '*mocking voice* We need fax! More fax! We hate Iggy/Max crap! We want fax and we want it now! Blah, blah, blah!')**

It was new years' now, and my family was hosting a party. Naturally, Fang and his family were there, along with Nudge and Anne Walker from Jeb's carpool. There were tons of people there, but I hardly recognized half of them. The party didn't officially start for fifteen minutes, at 11:45.

I worked my way though the crowd to a makeshift stage where Iggy was setting up to be the live entertainment.

"Hey," I said over the noise of the people milling about behind me. He turned and grinned at me, pushing up a sleeve of his white hoodie.

"Hi." He leaned in to kiss me, but I pulled away, embarrassed in front of all the people.

"Ig, not…" He just smiled and chuckled, slipping the strap to his guitar over his shoulder and stepping onto the stage.

"I've gotta perform, Max. Go have fun; I'll see you later, okay?" Iggy waved to me, I turned back into the crowd, immediately running into Fang, who motioned to an empty couch, and we sat together. I looked at Iggy without meaning to; I discovered he was glaring at us. I caught his eye and smiled, telling him it was okay. He reluctantly looked away.

"What's up?" I asked Fang as he sipped from his Dr. Pepper can.

"I wanted to finish our conversation in the car a couple days ago," he said and I tensed.

"Fang, I—" I began, but he cut me off.

"Max, we never talked about it, and I want to say a few things," he growled and I stopped arguing. Fang was scary when he was upset, especially with me.

"Go ahead," I mumbled.

"God, I'm sorry, Max. I didn't mean to force you to do anything. I'm just so confused after everything with you and Brittany…" he rested his forehead on his hand.

"Speaking of the idio- I mean girl, where is she?"

Fang sighed despairingly. "She wanted me to spend the night at her house tonight, but I told her I was going to a party and couldn't come, thank God."

I chuckled. "I thought you were dating her, shouldn't you _want_ to do that kind of stuff with her?" I teased and Fang groaned, resting his elbows on his knees and his head on his hands. He stared at the floor.

"Max…" He looked up at me and gave me a look that said 'you are _insufferable.'_ "You know why I don't- Forget it, we're off topic."

"And what topic were we on?" I asked, just to be annoying.

"When I kissed you," he stated, apparently deciding not to deal with me. "I wanna say that I'm sorry for doing that. I- I was out of line."

I didn't know what to say. "I… um… I forgive you…?"

Fang sighed again and turned his eyes to the floor again. "That's not- God, I don't even know what I'm trying to say," he said miserably.

"Just spit it out?" I tried. When he didn't respond, I nudged him in the ribs. "Come on, Fang. You can tell me."

He sat up and I watched him struggle with his words for at least ten minutes, then he finally started speaking. "Max, it's hard to explain what I want to say without misspeaking… I really, _really_ li- no… that's not right. Um…" He looked down again.

"Fang, don't worry about 'misspeaking', no one's going to kill you if you say what's on your mind," I said, smiling at him.

He shook his head desolately. "I _will_ get killed if I say it though." I moved closer to him and tilted his head up with my hand, forcing him to look at me.

"I won't tell anyone what you say," I said gently. "Just say it," I ordered.

Fang met my eyes and I was surprised at the amount of emotion his usually flat eyes were showing. I felt like I could stare into them for the rest of my life.

He took a deep breath. "Max, I—" he said, but his words were lost in screams of people celebrating the New Year. Fang didn't seem to realize what was going on until Iggy spoke into the microphone, wishing everyone a happy New Year, then he started singing some happy go-lucky song.

Fang turned his eyes from the television set back to me, meeting my eyes yet again. I could see disappointment in them; I hadn't heard what he wanted to tell me.

I couldn't break my eye contact with him, so I didn't notice that we were leaning towards each other steadily until his eyes closed and his lips touched mine. My eyes closed and I relaxed against him against my own volition. Fang jerked away when I moved closer to him and began to tilt my head to deepen the kiss. His breath was panicked on my face and I opened my eyes quickly, realizing what had just happened.

Fang jumped up from the couch and stared at me. "Shi—" he mumbled, raising a hand to his mouth in disbelief. My brain self-consciously added the last letter.

"Fang… did I…? **(I wanna add here that spell/grammar check just suggested I change that 'I' to 'me'. My computer has a dirty mind.)** We just… Oh, dammit," I mumbled, glancing at Iggy on the stage, who wasn't on the stage anymore. I prayed to whatever gods there were that he didn't see our… kiss. He stormed up to Fang and pushed him back onto the couch next to me. He apparently did see it.

"You want to explain why I looked over here and saw you _kissing_ my girlfriend, Cappelli?" Iggy asked, standing over Fang. There was murder in his icy blue eyes. Fang stayed silent. "That's what I thought. I already didn't like you, but this- this is the last straw." Fang stood up and looked like he wanted to reason with Iggy, but wasn't given the chance. Iggy's fist met Fang's face and Fang rubbed his cheek where Iggy had punched him. I stared in horror as my best friend and my boyfriend threw punches at each other until Jeb pulled Iggy back, being unnecessarily harsh with him; one of Jeb's work friends held Fang back.

"What's going on?" Jeb asked the pair. Iggy sneered at Fang, who scowled back and glared. Fang's nose was bloody, adding to his menacing appearance. I didn't know how Iggy could stand it.

"He," Iggy jerked his head at Fang, "Was kissing Max when I looked over here from the stage, so I came over and told him what I thought."

"Yeah, with your _fists_," Fang commented dryly.

"Is that what happened, Fang?" Jeb asked and Fang nodded. Jeb cautiously let Iggy go and he stood at the end of the couch closest to me. Jeb sat between me and Iggy.

"Is that what happened, Max?"

I nodded. "Fang and I… um… we kissed and then Fang pulled away and Iggy came over and they started fighting…" I was still in shock that the two most important boys in my life had just thrown punches at each other. It didn't help that they seemed to be fighting over _me._

Jeb nodded understandingly. "Fang, go to the bathroom and clean yourself up, get Ari or Gazzy to go with you. Iggy, uh, you should… talk to Max." Jeb's friend let Fang go and he wiped his face on his sleeve, leaving Iggy with a final glare as he grabbed Ari _and_ Gazzy by their shirts and dragged them to the bathroom, leaving the door open; their words were lost in the clamor of the party goers.

Jeb and his friend left me and Iggy alone. He sat next to me on the couch and put a protective arm around me.

"Did he force you to kiss him? I bet he did," Iggy said, automatically blaming everything on Fang, even though he was the one that pulled away, not me.

"No, Iggy. I don't even think he meant to kiss me in the first place. Plus, he pulled away first, not me."

"Stop trying to cover up for him, Max!" Iggy exclaimed suddenly, ignoring the tears in my eyes and the fact that I was taking this calmly.

"I'm not!" I said, jerking away from him and standing up.

"Max, don't—" I cut him off.

"Iggy, it was an accident! Just get over yourself and listen to logic, okay?"

"It didn't look like an accident," he said coldly and I scoffed.

"God, Iggy, I don't even want to talk about it, so just leave me alone, okay? Go play your damn guitar like you're supposed to be doing." I stormed out of the living room and into my backyard, watching the stars while I tried to figure out what was going on.

~!~

_Third Person- Fang_

"Dude, what happened to your face?" Ari asked as Fang groaned and wiped blood from his face with a washcloth that Gazzy had grabbed for him.

"Weren't you _watching_ him and Max?" Gazzy asked doubtfully.

"And you were?" Fang asked as he finished cleaning the blood from his face. His nose continued bleeding, so he tilted his head back with tissues covering it.

"Of course, it's all so entertaining! You and Iggy going at it, Max caught in the middle of it all… it's better than TV!" Gazzy exclaimed and Fang rolled his eyes at the younger boys.

"So Iggy and you finally went at it? Who won?" Ari asked.

Fang motioned to his bloody nose and the cuts on his eyebrows. "Who do you think?"

"Man, how could you let him win? Now Max is just gonna think you're a wimp, losing to some puny singer. What happened to that throwing arm?" Gazzy asked, putting a bandage on one of Fang's many cuts.

"Yeah! You can throw a football the length of a football field, why couldn't you land one measly punch on the guy? That woulda been much more fun to hear about," Ari chimed in, rinsing the washcloth out in the sink.

"Football is different than fighting, guys."

"We know that, but we think you could've done better! Anyways, what are you gonna do about Max, man? It doesn't look like things are going too well," Ari asked.

Fang leaned against the doorframe into the bathroom and sighed for what seemed to be the millionth time today. "I have no idea…" His nose had stopped bleeding, so Fang threw away the tissues and ran a hand through his floppy black 'emo' hair, as Brittany had called it the other day. "I tried to sort things out with her tonight, but it didn't work out."

"Obviously." Ari scoffed and Gazzy laughed.

"You should kiss her again and punch Iggy's lights out before he gets the chance. That would be great to watch," Gazzy said pugnaciously.

Ari slapped the back of his head affectionately, "No, stupid, that's what got him in this mess! We don't wanna make it worse."

"Right! We're here to help, man. Anything you want us to do regarding getting you and Max together, we're game. We could start by sabotaging their dates…" Gazzy said mischievously and Ari joined him in scheming. Fang spoke up when he heard 'oil slick' and 'bomb'.

"Thanks for the offer guys, but I think I'm beyond help…"

***sighs* There. Fax. I did it. Happy? You had better be. More Fax in the next chapter I think…**

**Oh, **_**Vanilla Twilight**_** by Owl City, that was suggested by Hena. I couldn't find a place to use it in the story, so I used it as Max's ringtone! Yay!**

**Um… The song in the last chapter, **_**Beautiful Love**_** by The Afters. That is known in my mind as the 'silly rhyme' song. If you want to know why, just click that 'previous chapter' button and read the last word of every line. 'Smile, while, night, right' these are just a few of the obvious rhymes used in this song.**

**I'm a mother! Haha, not **_**really**_**. There's a family of mourning doves living on my back porch and the little dove-lings hatched yesterday. I watched it happen!**

**Um… review or I will… send my annoying 17-year-old brother to your house as you learn to drive and have him tell you what to do as you drive on the road for the first time.**

**REVIEW (See the previous paragraph if you wish to know why you must.)**


	22. Chapter 22

***sighs* I'm supposed to be doing school/summer work right now. Be happy I'm doing this.**

**I don't know if this story pulls any gamers, but if anyone knows Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, have you ever noticed that it uses the names of things in Greek Mythology? Like Helios, Elysia, and Olympus. My observation of the week.**

**And, Max and Iggy are going to make up (grawr. I hate myself for that.), but this is the first of many fights… their break up (oh, you ALL knew it was coming) is imminent… I've already written the big 'break up' chapter. It will be happening in… five or six chapters.**

**The song in this chapter… I was gonna use a different song (the original song will be used later), but I was listening to the radio, and it came on and I realized it was perfect! I also reeeaaally like the song, so… yeah :)**

**And the biology teacher's full name is Albino Shadow McKinney. Yeah. That was a mini disclaimer required by the person I named the science teacher after.**

**Camilla: "Hi, everyone, I'm Camilla and Kelsey is a really good writer. And I have the hiccups, and am currently craving M&M's and jellybeans. And you guys should read Kelsey's story and love it because if you don't love it, I'll come after you. Ciao, Camilla." That was my buddy Camilla that I'm on the phone with her…**

**Mmm… I don't own Maximum Ride.**

_**First Person- Max**_

School was back in three days before the recording date, and I still refused to talk to Iggy. He'd tried to reason with me, but I just left the room. He knew I wouldn't talk to him unless he apologized, and I knew that wasn't happening anytime soon. Around him, I was aloof and distant, but he couldn't tell that on the inside, I was being torn apart.

I walked to Fang's SUV and climbed in the front seat. I slammed the door and glared ahead of me; Iggy had told my mother that he was 'sick' and couldn't go to school.

"Where's Iggy?" Fang asked gently.

"He's _sick,_" I grumbled.

"Are you guys still fighting?" I nodded tearfully and realized we were still in my driveway.

"Just drive, Fang. We don't wanna make the others late for school." My voice cracked, but Fang pulled into the road and picked up the others; I didn't say anything until they were all out of the car. Fang unbuckled himself and turned to me.

"Max?" He asked carefully and I met his eyes. His bangs were falling into his eyes but he didn't bother pushing them away from his face. "Do you want me to take you home? It doesn't look like you're up to staying at school."

I shook my head violently. "Iggy's at home, I don't wanna…"

"You could stay at my house," he offered, but still, I shook my head.

"I don't wanna get behind in school," I said, unbuckling myself and opening my door. I climbed out and started walking with Fang into Manhattan High.

"If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask, alright? Will you be alri—" I hugged Fang and buried my face in his shoulder.

"I don't know what to do, Fang," I mumbled and he awkwardly rubbed my back.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Max… calm down, don't worry about it. Wait for him to apologize, alright?" He hugged me closer to him and we stood like that for a while until I pulled away, wiping my eyes with the sleeve of my green hoodie.

"Thanks," I mumbled and Fang gave me one of his signature half-smiles.

"It's not a problem, Max… Will you be alright in first period today?" Originally, Fang and I had every class together, but when Iggy came, there were too many people in our first period Biology class, so Fang had been moved to the other teacher's class.

I nodded. "I'll be fine, Fang. Thanks for worrying about me." He gave me a one armed hug and carried my books to Biology for me.

"You sure you'll be okay?" He asked again when I was in my seat.

"Fang, I'll be fine!" I said, giving him the best smile I could come up with. It turned out more like a grimace, but Fang gave me one of his rare grins. My day was looking up after that.

"Okay, I'll see you next period," he said cautiously and then he left.

~!~

_Third Person_

When Iggy was back at school, Fang was sure to pull him aside before class. He gave Iggy an unfriendly look. Iggy was about to jerk away from Fang and tell him to get to his class, but Fang spoke up.

"Before you say anything, Iggy, I'm sorry for kissing _your_ girlfriend. It was stupid of me."

Iggy scoffed. "No kidding."

"But, I think you went a little over the top," Fang said, "And you should apologize."

"Why? Max isn't upset about it, she seems to be overjoyed that we're not speaking. We might even break up, and wouldn't you just _love_ that, _Nick?_" Iggy used Fang's real name to bug him, but if Fang was annoyed with that, it just added to his building rage. "I bet this all some elaborate plan by you to break us up so you can have her."

"She _isn't upset?_ Do you want to explain why she was _crying_ on the way to school yesterday and she told me she 'didn't know what to do' the day before that? She's torn up. She's about as overjoyed as Jade Calloway was last summer, and that was a _terrible_ summer for her." Fang gave Iggy his best glare. "I admit, it'd be nice for you guys to break up, but I care about Max's happiness more than my own, and being with you is making her happy, even though I'm going through torture. She's more important that I am, so you better apologize and make her happy."

Iggy almost asked about Jade and what had happened last summer, but he knew Fang would accuse him of changing the subject. "Whatever," Iggy said and rolled his eyes, stalking away from Fang to his first period class.

~!~

_First Person- Max, at the recording studio._

"Alright, so now that we're done with the instrumental parts, I want Mr. Cappelli in there to record the vocals. Make sure you put the headphones on," Mr. Snow, the producer for the studio, said to Fang after everyone had okayed the non-vocal recordings. Fang nodded and walked into the soundproof room, sitting on the stool and pulling the microphone to his mouth. He said something into it and Mr. Snow nodded. He motioned back to me.

"Mr. Cappelli wants you to listen," he said, giving me a pair of the bulky headphones. I put them over my ears and smiled at Fang through the thick glass.

"Can we do Bleed first?" Fang asked, sounding weird through the microphone.

"I'll count from five, then the music will start." Fang nodded and stared straight at me. Mr. Snow nodded at Fang and the guitar started. When Fang started singing, he was still staring straight at me. (_Bleed_ by Hot Chelle Rae)

"_I feel like I'm drowning in ice water,  
My lips have turned a shade of blue,  
I'm frozen with this fear,  
That you may disappear,  
Before I've given you the truth._

_I bleed my heart out on this paper for you,  
So you can see what I can't say,  
I'm dying here (I'm dying here),  
'Cause I can't say what I want to.  
I bleed my heart out just for you._

_I've always dreamed about this moment,  
And now it's here and I've turned to stone,  
I stand here petrified,  
As I look in your eyes,  
My head is ready to explode._

_I bleed my heart out on this paper for you,  
So you can see what I can't say,  
I'm dying here,  
'Cause I can't say what I want to,  
I bleed my heart out just for you._

_And it's all here in  
Black and white and red,  
For all the times,  
Those words were never said._

_I bleed my heart out on this paper for you,  
So you can see what I can't say,  
I'm dying here,  
'Cause I can't say what I want to,  
I bleed my heart out just for you._

_I bleed my heart out just for you."_

This was the first time I heard the song, but it was getting to me. I could tell it was about me. Fang held my eyes as Mr. Snow spoke up. He didn't seem to notice the tension between Fang and me.

"Do you wanna listen to that? I think we need a little touch up on the bridge…"

"Yeah, let's hear it," Fang said, still not looking away from me. I got the feeling that he was trying to tell me something with his eyes. He must know that I'm terrible at reading people.

~!~

Iggy was waiting for me on the front steps when we made it home at around ten thirty. He was sitting and stood when Fang dropped me off; Fang met my eyes and gave me a half smile.

"Good luck," he whispered as I smiled back at him. I shut the door and started for the door; I could feel Fang's eyes watching me as I approached Iggy, who smiled sadly at me.

"Jeb won't let me inside," he said.

"That's great. Could I get inside?" I asked, trying to push past him, but he caught me and pushed me gently in front of him. He didn't force me to look at him, so I stared at my purple converse that had been a gift from Fang.

"Max… Um… I- I over reacted…" He mumbled.

"Really?" I asked sarcastically.

"Max, just listen to me, okay?" He said harshly. It sounded like he wanted to hit something; unfortunately, I was the nearest thing. "This is already hard enough for me."

"Fang never has issues apologizing to me," I mumbled and Iggy growled. I kept myself from laughing at the fact that he was _growling._

"I don't care what _Fang_ does and doesn't do, okay? He's the one that made me realize I should apologize, so just shut up and listen!" He exclaimed irately and I nodded. I carefully stepped away from him, scared that he would blow up on me again.

"I'm really sorry, okay? I was being selfish and a jerk by not apologizing. Um… forgive me?" I met his eyes for the first time tonight. His words were void of emotion, but I could tell from his eyes that there was some truth in his statement.

"I… I guess, but um…"

"But what?" He asked severely.

"Can you promise that something like this won't happen again?" I asked carefully.

"What do you mean 'like this'?"

"Like, so jealous that you beat my best friend up. It really _was_ an accident that we kissed me. Fang doesn't even like me."

Iggy scoffed. "He doesn't like you?" He mumbled under his breath. "I'll try to keep stuff like this from happening, Max." He put his hand on my upper arm and I nodded, hugging him carefully. His explosion when I mentioned Fang had scared me inordinately. From seeing what Iggy did to Fang when we kissed, I was no match for Iggy when he was angry.

"Can we go inside now? It's cold out here," I mumbled and Iggy nodded, we walked into the house and I peeled away from Iggy, going to my room quietly and going to sleep.

***sigh* I wanted to murder Iggy in that last part. Anyone agree with me? I promise, Iggy will never hit Max. Ever. I always imagined that Iggy could get angry easily and when he does get mad, he almost gets violent. Like that one part in **_**School's Out- Forever**_** when he didn't find his parents and he threw that rock at the store? Yeah, that kind of rashness.**

**Review or Camilla the Chinchilla (Camilla from first AN) will hunt you down. Trust me, she will.**


	23. Chapter 23

**THE 100****th**** REVIEWER WILL GET A SNEAK PEAK OF A FUTURE CHAPTER. *****aside* damn… that means I have to write Fax future chapters…**

**.net/~aquapolartop**

**Click it. You know you want to. Read her story. It. Is. Amazing. She is writing a Maximum Ride fan fiction! Kind of in the style of my new story, On The Wing. (Only In This World is my favorite right now, Joey… You had better post the MR stuff soon)**

**I don't own Maximum Ride or a pair of un-maimed neon pink flip-flops…**

_This chapter is dedicated to Joanna/Joey/Aquapolartop, my bestestestest best friend. Instead of worrying about floods, we were more concerned with muddy feet… remember that? I guess I should have warned you when you said you were on a date… I love to play matchmaker… *scheming look* *scoffs* freshmen…_

_First Person- Max_

The snow melted early… just after Iggy and I made up, it was raining instead of snowing and all the snow was gone; the three feet of snow was replaced by three feet of mud. I'm exaggerating, of course. There was only a fine layer of mud.

I woke one Saturday morning, January the 16, to be exact, to an empty house. Angel, Gazzy, and Ari and Mom had gone shopping. Jeb worked on Saturdays and Iggy was… somewhere. Things hadn't been the same since our fight. We hadn't spoken much lately, but we had a date planned for later tonight, as an early birthday present for me. My birthday was coming up next week on January 19. We were back in school, so a Monday night date wouldn't really work out.

I rose from my double bed and ambled downstairs to see the rain continuously pouring down. It had been raining almost non-stop for three days. Thankfully, we lived uphill, so flooding wasn't an issue, as it was in other parts of the country.** (All those of you that were affected by the May 2 floods, sorry… Had to make a little flood humor.)**

I finished my breakfast of cereal and orange juice and settled into the living room to watch Saturday morning cartoons. The one thing I pulled from _that_ experience was that cartoons had gotten much more violent since the late nineties when I was growing up. I'd seen at least three cold-blooded murders on _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles._ No wonder kids had behavioral issues these days.

When all the bad cartoons were off, I glanced outside and saw that it had stopped raining heavily; it was only sprinkling now. I decided to put on a pair of jeans and a hoodie and go for a walk in the light rain.

There was so much mud, walking in shoes was pointless. I didn't mind getting the hems of jeans muddy, but my winter shoes were gifts from Fang and I didn't want to ruin them. I decided to go barefoot, ignoring the health risks that my more logical side was yelling at me.

I wandered up and down my street, enjoying the feel of warm rain on my cold skin. The rain steadily became heavier until it was pouring again, but I didn't notice. I wandered back to my front yard and felt my feet squish in the mud, reveling in the feeling. I sighed and leaned against the large maple tree in my front yard, closing my eyes and breathing in the scent of wet ground and winter air.

Despite the rain, birds were singing, hoping that the rain would go away so they could play and swoop through the air. I'd always been jealous of a bird's freedom. They could fly; something I'd wanted all my life. They didn't have to listen to parents or deal with jealous boyfriends and best friends that were acting funny every time they looked at you. But I had it good right now. Nothing to worry about; at least, I didn't have anything to worry about until I tried to get back in and realized I was locked out of my house. I was in such a good mood that it didn't register, though. I just walked back to the maple tree and closed my eyes again.

"Max!" I opened my eyes when I heard Fang call my name. I looked in his direction and pushed my soaking hair from my eyes, smiling and waving.

"Hi, Fang," I said, suddenly realizing that I was cold and wet and shouldn't have come outside. I shivered.

"What the hell are you doing outside, Max?" Fang asked sternly, taking in my appearance. "And without shoes on either?"

I took in his apparel. He was wearing his usual black t-shirt and jeans. The sleeves of his shirt were taut over the muscles in his arms. Unlike me, he'd had the sense to put on some shoes, even though they were leather flip-flops that would be ruined by all this water.

"I wanted to take a walk," I explained meekly. "And I didn't realize the door clicked shut, so I'm locked out."

"Good job, Max." He started back towards his house, and then stopped when he saw I wasn't following him. "Are you coming or not? You need to be dried off."

~!~

_Third Person- Fang_

Ten minutes later, Max was sitting in Fang's kitchen, sipping some hot chocolate that he'd made and wearing a pair of his basketball shorts and one of his t-shirts (that was way too big for her). Her hair was roughly towel dried by Fang himself, and was mildly wet now. Fang studied her quietly.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked yet again, just to reassure himself.

"I'm sure, Fang. I'll just stay over here until someone with keys gets back home and I can get inside. Thanks for taking care of me."

Fang wanted to hug her tightly and tell her that he was always there for her, whenever she needed him; maybe even kiss her. However, what he _wanted_ to do and what he _did_ are two completely different things.

He grinned, knowing it would make her smile, it did. "It's no problem, Max. I'm sure someone who can let you in will be home soon." Fang purposefully neglected to tell Max that he did, in fact, have a spare key to her house. (When Max's family was on vacation, he would take their mail in for them.) He really wanted her all to himself, if even for a few minutes.

"Yeah, but until then, what do you wanna do?" Max asked, finishing her hot chocolate.

"Now that I think about it, there's something I want to give you… an early birthday present?" Max nodded and followed Fang to his room, where Fang pulled out one big rectangular box, and another small one. Both were wrapped in festive paper.

"Fang, you didn't have to get me anything," Max complained, but Fang shook his head, feeling a smile tug at the corners of his lips.

"I had to, Max. Plus, one didn't cost me any money." He didn't mention how much the songs on his new record had cost him emotionally, though. All of them were about his relationship with Max, in some way.

Max rolled her eyes and opened the larger one first. It was a new radio for her car.

"I'll install it when the rain lets up." The thunder echoed as if to say 'yeah, that won't be for a while.'

When Max opened the smaller package, she gasped. "Is this…?" Fang nodded and she grinned, fingering the cover, which was a picture of Fang and her when they were both in fifth grade, grinning as they sat on a huge rock together. The effects on the photo made it look old and crinkled. Fang couldn't believe it was Max when he looked at that picture; she was so much more… attractive, for lack of a better word, now. The name of the album was _Hear Me Out._ "We have to listen to it!" She exclaimed and put it in Fang's stereo. They spent the rest of their Saturday afternoon listening while Fang sang along and Max tried to learn the words until she received a frantic call from Iggy, asking where she was.

~!~

_Third Person- Iggy_

Iggy parked his blue convertible at the Tops **(An actual grocery store chain in the north… Well, where I was)** grocery store and got out, locking the doors and throwing the hood of his navy hoodie over his head to keep himself dry from the pouring rain. He jogged into the store.

_I only need some soda. Just soda. No autographs._ Iggy reminded himself as he walked briskly to the sodas isle, keeping his head down to avoid anyone recognizing him. He pulled the knock-off Mountain Dew that Max liked from the shelf. He heard a squeal behind him and cursed under his breath.

"Oh my gosh! Look over there, Joanna! Is that Iggy Haines?" A girl voice shouted. He turned slightly and saw a girl with curly red hair that was pointing him out to her friend that had… purple hair? He shook his head and continued walking to the check out at the front of the store, but someone tapped his shoulder. He turned around to see the girl with purple hair and the other with red hair grinning at him.

"Excuse me, but are you Iggy Haines? I'm really sorry if you aren't, but you really look like him," the purple hair girl asked.

Iggy sighed. "That's me. Would you like an autograph or something? I'm kind of in a rush to get back to my girlfriend… she's, um… waiting in my car." He held his hand out for the sharpie he knew was coming, but he was surprised when the red head pulled out an old camera and snapped a picture of them together.

"Do you mind if I develop this film and get you to sign the picture?" She asked, completely ignoring his lie about his girlfriend waiting in the car.

"Um, really, I need to get back to my girlfriend; she's waiting for me in my car. Can I just sign a piece of paper in your purse or something?" Iggy asked, starting to get annoyed. The purple hair girl just grabbed his elbow and pulled him to the photo-developing section of the store.

_How convenient, _Iggy thought unhappily. He was too polite to just leave the two girls without an autograph, so he stuck around. The red head fumbled with the film and handed it to the attendant.

"Can you develop this for me?" She asked and Iggy sighed unhappily. He hated it when this happened. Sometimes he wished he wasn't famous at all. It was the only thing he had going for him, though, so he didn't really want his wish to come true.

While waiting for the film to be developed, Iggy found himself thinking of Jade Calloway, his new friend in World History class. She was the only person he knew that didn't treat him as if he should have the best things in the world. Even Max ostracized him sometimes, but Jade, Jade was so mean to him, and he loved it. She didn't once treat him as if he was famous. In fact, she seemed to forget that he was. Sometimes, he wished she would stop with her snide comments about his fans, but he appreciated the lack of what these two girls were doing.

Turning his thoughts from Jade, he began to study the two girls that were holding him hostage at the Tops grocery store. The girl with red hair was wearing skinny jeans and a blue and white shirt with brown sandals and a brown aviator's jacket over her shirt. She was staring at him from a chair across the room, and she blushed when he caught her eye. The other girl, with the purple hair, was sitting next to her and wearing jeans with black converse that looked like they had crayon drawings all over them. She was wearing an army style jacket and looked to be concentrating on something in a notebook. He walked over to them.

"Hey, girls. I figure if that I'm going to be stuck here, I should get to know my captors. What are your names?" He asked, smiling brightly. The red head giggled and the purple hair girl just looked at him indifferently, then back to her notebook.

"I'm Allie," the red head said. Iggy smiled and shook her hand.

"And your friend?" Iggy asked. The purple hair girl looked up.

"I'm Joanna, and I really care more about my writing than you, sorry. I'm only sticking around because Allie is my ride home," she said without emotion.

Iggy chuckled. "One of my friends would get along well with you," he said, thinking again of Jade.

"Whatever, I really need to finish this, so…" and she looked back down to her notebook.

"Um… how long is this going to take, Allie? I'm kind of busy today," Iggy asked his red headed captor.

"Oh, the lady said it wouldn't be more than three hours," she said brightly and Iggy sighed unhappily again.

"Oh, maybe I should go and come back?" Iggy asked, not intending to come back.

"I don't know, Iggy… This is so rare that I meet someone famous like you…" Allie said.

"I think you should just get his autograph and let him go. He said his girlfriend was waiting on him. You don't want her coming in here, I'm sure," Joanna said without looking up from her notebook.

"Hey!" Allie shouted randomly at someone in the store. A girl with black hair that Iggy recognized instantly turned at the shout and glared painfully at Allie. She approached them, shooting daggers at the red head the entire time.

"What do you want?" Jade asked, not seeing Iggy.

"My sister says hi!" Allie exclaimed.

"Is that all? I just talked to Xela last night." Jade spat. Iggy took that she didn't like Allie very much.

"No! Guess who I met just now and he's hanging out with me and Joanna until we get some pictures developed?"

"The president," Jade said sarcastically, rolling her eyes and finally spotting Iggy. Her eyes widened and she blushed slightly, looking at him. Iggy smirked and waved slightly at her.

"Oh, you're so silly, Jade! No! I met Iggy Haines, can you believe it?"

"I can. I sit next to him in sixth period at school. Why are you keeping him here? Did he agree to?"

"He has to sign a picture I took of him with me!" Allie exclaimed motioning for Jade to sit next to her. She simply stood next to Iggy.

"Did he agree to stay with you two? I'm sure he's very busy, Allie," Jade said, acting as if she was speaking to a kindergartener.

"He said what he had to do could wait!" Allie defended, but Jade wasn't listening. Instead, she turned to Iggy and looked him in the eyes.

"Did you agree to stay here? Allie can be a little… deceiving," she asked.

"Well, I need to get back to my house…"

"Then go, don't listen to Allie. She's my… friend's twin sister and can be a little annoying." Jade turned to Allie. "Iggy told me that he's too busy to stay here, so he's gonna leave. If you really want his autograph, I'll get it from him at school on Monday." And with that, Iggy left, with Jade following behind him, so Allie wouldn't follow.

~!~

_First Person_- Max

"Hey, Iggy," I said, walking into the living room of my house. He glanced up and grinned at me. I sat next to him and combed through my damp hair.

"What are you wearing?" He asked, pulling at Fang's too big shirt and tapping the basketball shorts.

"Oh, I got locked out, you know, and Fang let me hang out at his house, and he leant me some of his clothes. I forgot to get my wet clothes… I guess I'll run over there when it stops raining and pick them up." Iggy sighed and kissed the side of my head.

"I'm glad he was there to help you out." I could tell Iggy was pretending to be okay with it to make me happy.

"Yeah, and he gave me a new radio for my car, and their new album. You sound really great in the duet." I grinned and moved closer to him. "Are we still on for that date tonight?"

"Of course, Max. It's your birthday next week; I'd never cancel on you," he said into my hair. "And I've got something for you," he added mysteriously.

"Iggy, I already told you—"

"I know, you don't want presents. Fang got you something, so why can't I?"

"Your logic annoys me, Ig," I said with a fake pout.

"And your lack of it annoys me even more," he replied.

"Oh, shut up, Iggy. Where were you this morning?"

Iggy stared at the wall across from him. "I was just at the store, but I ran into a little, um, _trouble._ One of the girls there happened to recognize me and… Well, Jade from school helped me out. It was one of her friend's sisters that wanted me to hang out with them for almost the whole day."

"You ran into Allie?" I asked with a laugh.

"You know who she is?" Iggy asked hopefully.

"Who? Allie, Xela, or Jade?"

"All three," he said after a few seconds of silence.

"Um, Jade used to hang out with my group and then her boyfriend… never mind. Xela was, um, _is_ her best friend, and Allie is Xela's twin sister. Jade and Xela used to be part of our little group, with Fang, and me, and Seth, Jade's… boyfriend. She stopped hanging out with anyone after…" I finished awkwardly, remembering all the drama of last summer.

"Can you tell me what happened with Jade and Seth? She told me that they dated, but she won't tell me what happened with him. Did he break up with her or what…?" Iggy asked excitedly.

"Um… that's something that Jade will have to tell you herself. She kind of hates me now because I told Ari and Gazzy what happened, and they spread it around their middle school earlier this year…"

"I got that she doesn't like you. She makes fun of you all the time during World History," Iggy said with a chuckle. "She never really said what you did to make her so mad at you."

"Other than the telling Ari and Gazzy about that day Seth… um, she thinks I'm controlling and over protective of my friends," I said quietly. "She can be a little…"

"Frank?" Iggy suggested and I laughed.

"Exactly. She's very open about her feelings towards others. She doesn't like to get close to anyone. She and Seth were 'that couple'; everyone was jealous of them. They were so serious and then… Never mind. Ask Jade about it when you get to know her better, she might tell you."

~!~

"This is too fancy, Iggy. You didn't have to spend this much money on me," I said, sitting next to Iggy in the booth.

He grinned at me. "It's your birthday, Max. I _had_ to take you somewhere nice," he pulled out a long box from who knows where (I say this because it probably didn't fit in his pocket) and handed it to me. "And I got you something." I opened the box to see a necklace with a miniature record on it. I smiled back at him.

"Thank you, Iggy. It's awesome." I kissed his cheek and took a sip of my soda. I put on the necklace, admiring how it looked on my neck.

Overall, Iggy and I had an amazing time. We went to see a movie afterwards, and I don't want to bore you with the details.

When we got back home, I went straight to sleep.

**There. This chapter was written with many screams and kicks. The next time I update, it will be on my BRAND NEW COMPUTER!**

***groans* My *shudders* sophomore year in high school starts on the 12****th**** of August. Before you ask, **_**yes**_** that's a Thursday and we have Friday off. Something is wrong with my school system.**

**I just returned from Holiday World with a killer sunburn and my buddy Rai-chan. She says, "Beware of the interstate. It's evil. BUTTERMILK!" And that was Rai-chan!**

**l**

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**V**

Click it!


	24. Chapter 24

**My air conditioning is out. Grah.**

**Say hello to Ron, everyone! He's my brand new desktop computer! FINALLY.**

**Um, a note. As I've said before, I will be starting school Thursday. This means that updates will not be coming rapid fire, like they were before my laptop broke and all that crap. I'm going to attempt to work out a schedule so I can update every other Saturday, but I'm not promising anything. The updates might be fewer or more, I'm not sure. It all depends on how much work I get. Don't complain, twice a month is **_**generous**_** when you go to the school I go to. I have six academic classes, being Chemistry, World History, Algebra II, French III, Geometry, and English II. All of which are honors classes. I get thirty minutes of homework from **_**each**_** of these classes **_**every night.**_** Add thirty minutes of practicing my flute for my other class, Wind Ensemble, and that's three and a half **_**hours**_** of work. I get home at three thirty. That puts me at seven. And I have to help make dinner and then eat, putting me at about eight. Then I have to do dishes, wasting another thirty minutes. By that time, it's time to shower and then sleep. I don't know where writing fits in, but if anyone sees a gap, it would be nice if they could point it out. *is stressed for sophomore year***

**Don't own Maximum Ride.  
**

* * *

"Oh, Max! Look it, look it!" Angel screamed happily, staring at the giraffes.

I nodded excitedly, ignoring my grumbling stomach. "Yeah, those are really cool, Angel," I said, starting to get annoyed with her constant screams every time she saw a new animal. I swear I was about to go deaf. Why, oh why did Mom and Jeb _have_ to take her to the zoo, and then decide that I would be going instead of them? Could someone please explain this to me? Not even Iggy was here to rescue me from this hell.

"I wanna ride one, Max!" Angel exclaimed, staring at the giraffes greedily.

I ruffled her hair. "Sweetie, I don't think we can do that. Why don't we go look at the panthers?" I grabbed her small hand and dragged her to the panther observation area. I forced my way to the front and lifted Angel up so she could see.

"They're all black," she giggled, pointing through the glass to one. "Do you know who they remind me of, Max?" She asked, switching from seven-year-old mode to mature-mode.

I shook my head. "Who do they remind you of, Ange?"

She giggled again. "They remind me of Fang."

I laughed at her proposition. Now that she mentioned it, I pulled up a mental image of Fang and compared it to the big cats prowling around the habitat.

_They certainly had a color thing going on, _I thought, staring at them. And Fang _was_ big and supremely graceful, like a black panther… **(WITH WINGS! Thought I might add that.)**

Oh God. I'm so stupid. Forget I just said that. I have a boyfriend, remember?

Iggy reminded me more of… a penguin, no… a creamsicle. That's what he was. One a those orange cream Popsicle things. Thinking about one made my mouth water, even though it was currently forty degrees outside. Just because the snow melted doesn't mean that it got any warmer.

Angel _insisted_ that we saw _every_ animal in the zoo at least three times. By the third time around, Angel had to push and pull me to see each animal. On our way out, I pulled out my phone, dialing Jeb's cell-phone number.

"Hey Max," he said, speaking in a hushed tone. I needed him and Mom to pick me up because they'd dropped us off. I have _no freaking clue_ why they didn't let me drive my own car.

"Hey Jeb, Angel and I are ready to be picked up from the zoo." A guy around my age held the door open for Angel and me and I smiled my thank you at him.

"Well, sweetie, we're kind of busy, so I'll ask Fang to come pick you up. Is that okay?"

I sighed. "That's fine, I guess. I'll see you guys whenever."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Fang was there in his big, black (just like those panthers) SUV. I helped Angel into the backseat and secured her in the booster seat that Fang happened to have. He confuses me _so much._

"Hey, thanks for coming to get us," I said, smiling with exhaustion and collapsing in the passenger seat. Fang handed me a bottle of water and I sucked it down gratefully. "Thanks."

"It's not a problem, Max." He smiled almost… painfully (?) over at me put the car in gear, beginning to drive us home through the early afternoon traffic of downtown Manhattan.

* * *

When we reached home, Angel burst out of the car, her little camera in hand, impatient to show everyone her pictures of all the animals. I stayed in the car with Fang.

"I never got the chance to say thank you for the birthday presents," I said, fingering the necklace Iggy had given me. Fang's eyes found it and he scowled momentarily, and then looked back to my face, dropping all emotion.

"You don't have to thank me," he said quietly, not looking at me anymore.

I punched his arm. "I feel like I should, though! You're so awesome and nice to me." I grinned at him, but he didn't see it.

He opened his door. "Come on, I'll walk you to your door." He spoke in a monotone. I glanced at him worriedly, but I followed him to my door nonetheless.

"Fang?" I asked when we reached my front door. He looked up, but didn't meet my eyes. "What's wrong? You're all introverted today. Are you okay?"

He didn't answer, just looked down again.

"Fang, look at me," I commanded in my no-nonsense tone and he met my eyes.

I gasped. His eyes had dark circles under them and he looked, well, like a zombie. My description hasn't even reached his actual _eyes _yet. His usually flat, black, eyes were filled with pain and longing; I got the feeling that he wanted me to understand something. He just stared at me and tried to smile, but it ended up looking like a grimace.

He noticed my surprised expression. "Yeah," he mumbled, not breaking eye contact. His look turned desperate as I just stared, shocked.

I enveloped him in a hug. "What's wrong?" I demanded, even though he wasn't hugging me back, he was just standing there like a statue.

He mumbled something in return, but I didn't hear him.

"What?" I asked gently, pushing him back from me so I could see his face.

"I said, 'stuff with Brittany'," he said, clearer now, but I could still just barely hear him.

"What kind of stuff?" I asked, putting my hand on his upper arm. He seemed to enjoy the physical contact and leaned against my arm.

"I- we went on a date last night and… things got a little… far last night and it made me start thinking… It's complicated, you wouldn't understand," he said, closing his eyes and sighing unhappily. It looked like he was holding back tears.

"Are you sure?" He nodded, "I'm here if you wanna talk, okay?" I knew better than to mess with Fang when he was in a mood like this. If he said he was sure, I wasn't going to question him. I hugged him again for good measure, I felt him kiss my hair, and I pulled away, going into my house.

Iggy was waiting for me on the couch. He noted my entrance and watched Fang saunter back to his SUV and drive across the street to his house. I sat with him on the couch and sighed. He sat cross-legged across from me.

"What was that about?" He asked, eyeing me carefully. I detected a hint of harshness in his tone.

"Something was up with Fang; I was talking to him about it."

Iggy didn't seem to buy it. "Why was he walking you to the door?"

"Because he's a gentleman," I retorted, getting annoyed with the interrogation.

"You _weren't_ on a date?" He clarified.

"God, no, Iggy! He picked Angel and me up from the zoo!" This was _really_ starting to annoy me.

"It looked like you were doing a lot of staring in each other—" Iggy started accusingly, but I cut him off.

"God, Iggy! Stop taking shots at my best friend! He's just as important to me as you are and I really don't appreciate you insulting him every five seconds!" I shouted, standing up from the couch.

"Well _sorry_ if I thought something was going on with you two and I wanted to make sure you weren't _cheating on me!_" Iggy yelled, slamming his fists on the couch. Again, with the anger, it was seriously scaring me.

"Are you saying you don't trust me, Iggy?" I asked, hurt. Iggy didn't seem to notice.

"Maybe I am!" He yelled. I was worked up now.

"You know what, Iggy? Just leave me alone, okay? I don't even wanna see your face right now." I stormed off to my room and slammed the door.

* * *

_Third Person_

"You don't look so good, Iggy," Jade commented, glancing over at him in World History before class started.

Iggy rubbed his eyes sleepily and rested his forehead in the palm of his hand. "I-"

"Haven't been sleeping?" She supplied, laughing without humor. "I know the feeling, though I don't think we're insomniacs for the same reasons." She fingered her earrings and eyed Iggy humorously. When Iggy didn't comment, she spoke up. "What's up?"

"I'd rather not talk about it…" Iggy mumbled, staring at his desk.

"Oh… I get that," she said quietly.

Something struck Iggy that he wanted to ask her. "What happened with Seth?" He asked, looking over at her. She tensed noticeably and wouldn't look at Iggy.

"Seth…" she started, but never finished. She shook her head. "I- I don't like talking about it. I start having flashbacks and… it's unpleasant. For me, I mean."

"Mr. Haines and Ms. Calloway, is there something you want to share with the class?" Mr. Kerner asked, staring at the pair. Jade looked at the teacher with disdain. He never understood. Jade _knew_ that someone told him about what happened last summer, yet he didn't take sympathy on her as was expected from all the teachers. She didn't really _want_ his sympathy, but he didn't have to pick on her like this.

"No," Jade said, turning her attention away from the teacher and back to her daydreams of Seth…

* * *

"Hi," Max said sheepishly, wiping the moisture from the tears and rain on her face. Fang stepped back and let her into his house, leading her to his couch. They sat and Fang gave her a one armed hug.

"What's up?" He asked carefully, judging her reaction. He couldn't help but worry that Iggy had hit her or something. Last time, he _had_ seemed extremely upset. So upset that he might hit her.

"Iggy and I fought…"

"Again?"

She nodded.

Fang frowned. _That son of a…_ He didn't allow himself to finish the thought. He just concentrated on Max's face.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"He thought we were on a date," she mumbled, burying her face in his shoulder.

"When?"

"When you drove me and Angel home from the zoo and you walked me to the door. He thought… he thought I was cheating on him…"

"What? Why would he—"

"He doesn't trust me, Fang." She started crying on his shoulder. A few minutes later, Fang's phone went off in his pocket.

"Hello?" He asked. Max looked up at him tearfully and he rubbed the spot she liked between her shoulder blades.

"Is Max with you?" Fang recognized Iggy's voice on the other line. "Fang, don't hang up, please. Is she with you?"

"She's here," Fang said after a moment.

Iggy sighed on the other line. "Could you tell her that I'm really sorry? She won't even look at me." Fang hung up and went back to comforting Max.

"Was that Iggy?" She murmured.

"Yeah. He says he's 'really sorry.' What are you gonna do?"

"What do you think I should do, Fang?"

Fang paused for a moment, thinking. He could tell her she should break up with him. He knew she would listen to him. His conscience would get the best of him if he did that, though. "Um… forgive him… but tell him the next time you fight over this, it's over…" Fang said eventually. Max smiled weakly at him.

"Thank you, Fang. You're the best friend ever." She kissed his cheek lightly and got up to leave, leaving Fang on the couch, staring at the coffee table in front of him.

* * *

**Urgh. I didn't like writing this chapter. I like the beginning, but the Fang stuff at the end? Terrible. Yuck. I'm updating once before school starts, and then it's on to the twice a month thing…**

**Uh… a lot of people have reviewed, asking that Max and Fang get together NOW. In response to that, they WILL get together. Just not yet. I promise. I have planned this story out. See? I'll even show you what I've written on the plot summary for chapter 28 and 29!**

_28. Breakup (on April 15)._

_29. Iggy Bashing. FAX._

**See? That's what's written. I cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. I'm stubborn. I'm not going to change the story's plot just because YOU wanted to see something happen. It. Will. Happen. I like to keep my promises. So don't review saying, "Get Max and Fang together NOW!" Because it won't happen for… *checks story plot outline* 13 chapters. Now, if on the chapter right before that one you want to say that, it's fine. But I won't be doing it because you told me to. It'll be because I want to. Hints the stubbornness.**

**Now review.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Hey everybody. I am supporting the popular notion of most high schoolers and I am procrastinating… I'm writing this chapter the day before I'm supposed to post it… Yeah.**

**The following is my disclaimer.**

**I have abided by the HFA honor code in completing this assignment.**

**Yeah. If you don't go to school with me, don't laugh. But… I Spiked The Ice Cream, What's Your Point, and Aquapolartop… feel free to giggle all you like.**

**But really. I don't own Maximum Ride.**

* * *

_Third Person_

Fang walked into school on the worst day of the year. Valentine's Day. Everyone knew who he _wanted_ his 'valentine' to be. Everyone knew who it actually was.

Brittany, who was dressed in all pink, skipped up to Fang and planted a kiss on his cheek. She handed him a pink frou-frou bag with red, pink, and white tissue paper overflowing from the top.

"Go ahead, open it, Nicky!" Fang groaned at the use of his nickname. He hated it. 'Nicky' was a _girl's_ name. And last he checked, he was a guy. He opened the present reluctantly and found a box of Valentine's chocolates. Too bad he didn't like chocolate. He tried to force a smile, but it wasn't working.

"Thank you," he said as sweetly as he could without groaning. She giggled and hugged him, walking with him to his locker.

"What are our plans for tonight, Nicky?" Brittany asked as Fang grabbed his books for his first few classes.

Fang mentally groaned. "Plans?" He asked, carefully hiding his emotions.

"Well of course, silly! It's Valentine's Day, isn't it? It's what boyfriends and their girlfriends do on Valentine's Day!" Brittany clung to his arm as he walked down the hall. He had the feeling that they weren't talking about going out to dinner and a movie anymore.

"Um… I guess, Brittany… I'll pick you up at six." Fang managed to shake her off after she squealed a thank you and kissed him on his cheek, smearing her pink, shiny, lip-gloss all over his face. He was already starting to regret agreeing to going out tonight.

* * *

_Third Person. Still. Just different people. Or a different person. This is before school started… yeah. I'm drawing this interaction out because we're going to be focusing a lot on Jade soon and the Iggy/Max sh- I mean crap in this chapter is short. I mean, REALLY short. I wanna make this a looooooooong chapter._

Jade sighed dramatically and dug around her dresser for that one shirt. That one shirt that matched that one pair of skinny jeans and that one pair of shoes. Why was she obsessing over what she looked like today? She couldn't tell you. Not. At. All. A thought kept crossing her mind that it was because she wanted Iggy to notice her or something, but she always pushed that thought out of her head. She couldn't think that thought because _he _was—

"Jade, are you ready to go?" Jade's dad yelled up the steps. Jade quickly pulled the shirt that she _finally_ found on and stepped into her slip-on Vans. She'd already found those jeans and had done her make up. Her hair was flopping into her green eyes, but that's how it always was after _that_ happened.

She shook her head to stop herself from thinking about _it_ and messing her up her make up by crying. She grabbed her purse and backpack and jogged down the steps, checking her phone out of habit. As usual, she had no messages. She smiled at her dad waiting at the door, a first in almost a year, and walked ahead of him to their sleek, black car.

Her dad noticed the sudden change in Jade's mood, but didn't say anything. He didn't risk asking her about it and getting the cold shoulder again. This was all because he was a stupid, over-protective father and didn't like his daughter going out with Seth… then they wouldn't have been on that street, at that time, and it never would've happened. His daughter's boyfriend (that she _loved) _wouldn't have been—

"We're here, Dad," Jade said quietly from her seat next to him. If he was surprised that she spoke to him, he did a damn good job of hiding it. Jade rose from the car quietly and smiled slightly as her father drove off, leaving her at school.

Jade walked into Manhattan High School with a new attitude. She was in a good mood today. For once since _it_ had happened, she was looking forward to seeing other people. She would never admit it, but she was ever so slowly getting over _it._ She was getting over _him._

Jade turned the corner to the hallway with her locker and froze in place. All she could see was it. Iggy and Max. Making out in front of her locker that happened to be right next to Max's. She couldn't exactly recall _why_ she felt like this. It was kind of like what she felt whenever Seth spoke about all his ex-girlfriends… but she didn't have to worry about him having any more girlfriends… She shook her head again and stood in front of the pair, glaring at the back of Iggy's head as he pressed closer to Max. Jade cleared her throat rather loudly, catching the attention of Max, who pulled away quickly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she mumbled, not meeting Jade's eyes. Jade smirked at Max's obvious apprehensiveness around her and pushed through to her locker.

Iggy leaned on the lockers to Jade's right, Max was on her left. Jade just ignored the two and gathered her books. She faintly heard that Brittany girl squealing something at Fang about going out that night and then stomping off in her six-inch heels. She smirked to herself. Unlike her feelings towards Max, she actually still liked talking to Fang when she had the chance. She had first period with him and he sat with her. Maybe she would strike up a conversation today.

Jade nodded to herself and walked between Iggy and Max to her first class. She was determined that today would be good. Well, better than the rest, at least. As she was walking away, she heard a shout from Iggy.

"You look good today, by the way!"

Jade just smirked and walked into class. She sat next to Fang and almost laughed at his dejected expression. He looked so… helpless. But she never laughed. Never ever ever.

He glanced up at her and smiled weakly. She could tell he was really trying. She tried to smile at him, but it ended up mirroring his look, dejected and helpless.

Fang chuckled as Jade swung her stuff below the table they shared. The teacher was giving them a study day today, so she didn't need anything. "How are you doing, Jade?" She knew about the implied meanings in that question.

She nodded. "I'm… a little better. Not much. It's still popping up every day… little things like a jacket I found last weekend… had me crying for hours…" Jade spoke quietly while looking at the side of Fang's face.

Fang knew about what happened. He also knew better than to say what happened if he wanted to avoid Jade having a full mental breakdown. "You can always call me if you want to, Jay. It's fine if it's three in the morning. I'm always willing to talk."

Jade nodded and fought back the tears that were about to start. She swallowed the lump in her throat and spoke when she was sure her voice wouldn't break. "What about yourself? You look pretty down today." She didn't speak with the intonation of most people. She tended to say everything as a statement, and was always very quiet. She never shouted anymore. Of course, she was shouting _that night_, with all that blo- She shook her head again and turned her attention back to Fang, who was watching her with concern.

"You alright?" He asked carefully. She nodded and he went on, "It's just stuff with Max and Brittany." He shuddered as he said the name and Jade almost smiled. Fang was never _Fang _withher. He talked more. He was open. He was… totally different. Jade almost wished that other people could see this side of Fang, but then again, she wanted to keep this open Fang all to herself. Don't take that the wrong way, though. Fang was a _brother_ to her. He loved Max in a romantic way. He and Jade had literally gone as brother and sister at a few social events that they had all gone to before… last summer.

"You need to—"

"I know, I need to break up with Brittany and tell Max about… how I feel, but it's so… it's just hard…" Fang struggled with his words and Jade internally smiled at him. She knew when someone was in love. And it was so obvious that he was.

Jade nodded. "I know it was hard with… Seth and I… he was…" Fang could see that Jade couldn't finish, so he did so for her.

"He was like me."

"Yeah. You remind me of him… except Seth talked a little bit more," Jade remembered with a smile.

"A little bit? He was always getting in trouble for talking his head off during class. Teachers hated him because he wouldn't shut up during class." Fang grinned at the memory of his old friend, then quickly changed the subject as he was Jade's smile begin to fall as she remembered _it._ He didn't even dare _think_ about it, for fear of Jade reading his mind and then breaking down in the middle of school. He would drive her home, of course, but it was so embarrassing for her. He hated to see her go through this. "Um… anyway, how's Xela?"

Jade smiled, thanking him for the change of subject. "I talked to her a little the other day… I don't really talk to her all that often anymore. She's good, I guess… I need to hang out with her sometime soon… I haven't seen her since… the…"

"You don't have to say it, Jade. I don't want you to get all worked up when it's only first period. What do you think of Iggy?" Fang asked this question carefully as he _knew_ what Jade would read of it.

Jade took on a 'thoughtful' expression. "He's… nice… enough. He's kind of annoying, a little bit egotistical, but other than that, I like him pretty well." Jade was avoiding the obviously desired answer of 'he's so not the right guy for Max' because that was what Fang wanted to hear. She learned a long time ago that telling people what they wanted to hear was _not_ the right way to go.

"Do you like the fact that he and Max are dating?"

_Oh, so _now_ he's being forward._ "It's whatever Max wants, really. You can't control what choices she makes. It's her life." Even though Jade _hated_ Max, she really couldn't tell her (or anyone else, for that matter) what to do. Jade tried to be fair in all that she did. She wanted to be fair, unlike those people… that night… and all the blo- Jade shook her head for what seemed like the millionth time today and sighed, covering a yawn. She hadn't been sleeping well lately. She'd been having nightmares.

"Having a conversation in there, Jade?" Fang teased with a playful grin. Jade smiled as wide as she dared and shook her head.

"I just rid myself of… unnecessary thoughts when I shake my head. Just a habit, I guess."

Fang nodded. "I understand…" he appeared to be thinking. "Oh! I know! **(Fang is using exclamation points? Can we say OOC?)** You should eat lunch with us today. Like old times. We won't have Seth or Xela, but it'll be you, me, and Max. Well, Iggy'll be there, too, but I'm sure you can ignore him and Max being all… lovey-dovey. We could talk more, if you want."

Jade smiled her thanks. "I don't know, Fang… it's kind of awkward with Max, you know? I don't like her that much…"

* * *

_First Person_

So this is how the burying of the hatchet went. I told Iggy what Fang said. He promised never to get upset over something so petty as me hanging out with Fang again, but I'm not really sure. We're all good now, though.

"Hey, do you wanna go out tonight or stay home?" Iggy asked me, wrapping his arms around my stomach from the back and kissing the top of my head. I leaned back on him.

"I'd really like to stay home tonight… It _is _a school night," I said, grinning. Being with Iggy was making me so happy right now. He'd been acting a little odd lately, but I dismissed it as the fact that we'd been fighting a lot lately. It crossed my mind that our relationship might not be working out, but I dismissed it quickly.

Iggy sat with me on the couch. "How was school today?"

"It was… interesting. Jade was um… rather cheerful today, wasn't she?"

Iggy nodded against me. "She didn't try to kill me in World History."

"I know. Fang said that she was talking to him and everything in Biology today. I know you didn't know her before, but when she wasn't so introverted… striking up a conversation was odd for her… she was certainly acting weird today. She didn't look so happy when she saw us kissing in front of her locker, though." I didn't say it, but I recognized her expression. It was the same look that Iggy got when he was talking about me and Fang hanging out. She was jealous.

"Yeah… it was weird. I wonder what's up with her," Iggy said, voicing his thoughts out loud.

Again, I didn't say it, but I knew exactly what was up with Jade. And it wasn't pleasant.

* * *

**Wow. One chapter in three hours. You have no clue how relieving it is to know that I have the chapter I was supposed to have finished last week the day before I was supposed to have it done…. Gosh… Umm…. Oh yeah. I remember.**

**I decided to be nice to you readers. The 'Break Up' chapter has been moved to chapter 27. It is officially the chapter after next. It'll be roughly a month…. Yeah.**

**Now that you've finished reading this chapter, you should REVIEW. So do it. Click it.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Well… hello there. It's been a while, hasn't it? This is a lead up to THE BREAK UP CHAPTER. IT'S SHORT. IT'S BORING. DEAL WITH IT. THE BREAK UP IS THE NEXT CHAPTER PEOPLE.**

**I seriously love all of you. You all made my day with your wonderful reviews! I had so many good reviews that I'm writing the day after I posted chapter 25!**

**I have abided by the HFA honor code in completing this assignment.**

_** *signs name on the computer screen***_

**There. You happy, Joey?**

**But really. I don't own Maximum Ride.**

* * *

Iggy sat next to me, but not too close, on the couch, even though we were alone. He didn't put his arm around me or kiss the side of my head as he always did. He just sighed and stared across the room. He'd been sighing a lot lately.

I smiled over at him. He didn't look back at me. "What's up, Ig?"

"Nothing," he said, looking over at me with a sad attempt at a smile. He didn't seem to understand the hidden meanings in my question.

"Are you okay? You've been acting weird lately," I said, deciding to be very forward with it.

He met my eyes and shook his head, feigning a confused look. He smiled at me again, but I could see the pain in his eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired, you know? School's almost out and I wanna get back to sleeping late. I miss waking up at noon.

I nodded. "I know what you mean." And he never spoke up again.

Things were going through my head at a mile a minute. What was _really_ up with Iggy? I didn't believe the BS that he was tired. No one believed that excuse anymore. Was he unhappy with me? Did I do something wrong? Did he not want to be in this relationship anymore?

Did he want to break up?

I quickly pushed that thought out of my head and thought of all the happy moments we had together. I just couldn't stop myself from always going back to that thought though…

* * *

_Third Person. I'm sorry for the cliché-ness of this._

Fang sighed deeply as he sat on his front porch and watched Iggy drive off somewhere. God knew where he was going. Probably to the park or something to write. Fang had been getting less and less depressed about this whole 'Iggy and Max' situation. Don't think that he didn't notice the drawing apart.

Fang took another deep breath as he rose and walked across the street to Max's house and knocked on the front door. He'd been thinking about telling her this for such a long time… he really hoped he didn't chicken out this time. It probably wouldn't work out because of Iggy, but Fang was sure they were going to break up soon… He was good at reading people. He knew that when someone in a relationship was scared (like Max was) that they were going to break up, it would happen.

Anyway, Max opened the door and smiled as she saw Fang. He smirked back, thinking all the time about how good that t-shirt and those sweatpants looked on her.

"Come on in, Fang. What's up?"

Fang stepped into her house and sat on the couch. He was pretty sure no one else was home. He'd seen them all leave earlier. "I… um… wanna tell you something. Maybe talk for a little bit." He almost added that she shouldn't tell Iggy about it, but that would just make her suspicious and probably kick him out.

"Yeah? Go ahead," Max said with a smile and he smiled nervously back. He couldn't believe he was about to do this…

"I… love…" he paused, unsure if he should really do this. At the last second, he blurted, "someone… yeah." _Dammit._ He looked to Max, waiting to see her crack up, but she had a slightly confused/happy look on her face.

"Brittany? Do you love her?"

Fang shook his head violently. "No… not Brittany. And… I wanna break up with her, but I don't think the girl I love feels the same way."

"Then tell her," Max said in a 'duh' tone.

"But… She likes someone else…"

"Are she and this 'someone else' dating?" Max had a scheming look on her face.

"Um… yeah. They are."

"Tell me who she is!" Max randomly exclaimed with a grin. "I could help you out!"

"Um… I don't think it would be the smartest thing to tell you who she is."

"Fine then. Can we play twenty questions then?" Max still had a little girl grin on her face and Fang rolled his eyes.

"Sure. What's your first question?"

"Do I know her?"

"Yes." Fang couldn't _believe_ he was doing this.

"Am I friends with her? Like, really close friends?"

Fang chuckled to himself. "You could say that."

"Hm… Have we both known her for a long time? Like, a year or more?"

Fang chuckled again. "Yeah."

Max pushed her long brown-blonde hair out of her face. "Does she have long hair?"

"Yeah."

Max got an evil glint in her eyes. "Does the guy she like have spiky hair and blue eyes?" Fang nodded again. "Are we both friends with him?"

"Well, I haven't talked to him in forever…"

Max crowed her triumph. "I totally know who it is!" She yelled and Fang looked at her in confusion.

"Who is it?" He asked, deadpan.

She grinned. "It's Jade, isn't it?"

"What? Why would I like Jade? She's in love with a—"

"Don't say it, Fang! She'll know that you said it! Why don't we just refer to him as… her previous boyfriend? Don't deny it Fang. I know you like her. Who else could you be describing?"

_You._ He thought, but didn't dare say it aloud. "You know, now that I think about it, I've gotta go. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

* * *

"What's your favorite color?" Iggy asked, smiling as Jade gave him a 'you are so weird' look.

"Blue," she answered after a few minutes. She blushed at the thought of the _kind_ of blue she liked.

"Why blue?" Jade blushed again and fingered her earrings that Seth had given her.

"It's the color of Seth's eyes," she mumbled, not referring to him in the past tense for once. She liked to believe that he was still—

"I see…" Iggy said with playful seriousness. "Well, _my_ favorite color is green and I'm not going to say why. What's your least favorite color?"

"That's an odd question, Iggy," Jade said with a narrowing of her eyes. She thought a minute. "Dark red."

"Why don't you like that color?"

_The alley… all the blood…_ Jade just shook her head in response to Iggy's question. "It's a weird reason."

"Oh… well, I don't like the color pink," he said with pride.

She imagined that she grinned easily and laughed with him, but she just shuddered. She was wearing a pink shirt _that night._ She shook her head again, catching Fang's attention.

"Are you alright?" He mumbled to her, making sure Iggy didn't hear him. Jade nodded and looked back to Iggy, who was giving her a confused look.

"She has conversations with herself in there. You get used to it after a while," Fang said while tapping Jade's temple with a playful grin. Jade smirked and slapped Fang's hand away gently. She heard Max mutter something like, "Admit it, Fang." But Jade dismissed it and turned back to Iggy.

"What do you do in your free time?" He asked.

"Are we playing the 'get to know Jade' game or something?" She asked, giving him an almost angry look.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine then. Bands you like?"

"Anything but _your_ singing," Jade spat, though she was being playfully disrespectful.

Iggy took on an offended air. "You make me feel so loved."

Jade almost laughed. "You are loved. Just not by me." Iggy grinned at her and the bell signaling the end of lunch rang. Jade stood and grabbed her purse from under the table. "It was good talking with… all of you again… I should go." With that, Jade headed off to her fifth period French class.

* * *

**You guys have no clue how good my weekend has been. One might even say that I'm the epitemy of absolute joy right now! So good that I'm updating with this chapter AND the breakup chapter super early! As in, two weeks early! Be very happy!**

**I'll give a mini reason as to why I'm so happy. First off: I got SO many good reviews on the last chapter I posted… I mean, like, things I could RESPOND to. People asked me questions and said what they liked and didn't like. Second off: I FINALLY convinced my parents to let me drop my band class. I REALLY hated it. So I'm going to try to get a Study Hall or Art II… Let's all hope that'll work out, because that means MORE TIME FOR ME TO WRITE.**

**One last thing. A stitch of Gucci saves leopards. If you really wanna know why, review and ask.**

**And to the girl who asked 'Will we ever find out what happened to Jade?' You will. Next chapter.**

**REVIEW.**


	27. Chapter 27

**I promised that it would come up in chapter 27, so here you are. I know everyone was looking forward to this chapter. I actually wrote it… *checks calendar* Wednesday, June 02, 2010, 12:33:00 AM. Mwahaha.**

**Just a note, this is not JUST a 'Max and Iggy break up' chapter. Other, very important things happen in this chapter, so be sure to read ALL OF IT. That means even the beginning stuff between Jade and Iggy! That's super important. (As in, we find out what happened to Seth. I know… I Spiked The Ice Cream, Aquapolartop, and CrazyNerdyFanGirl already know what happened… one knows **_**how**_** it happened… Hi, Ai-chan.)**

**And I don't own Maximum Ride.**

* * *

"Hey, Jade," Iggy said, slinging his backpack to the floor beneath his desk. Jade looked up at him, her bangs covering her left eye, and she smirked.

"Hey. Mr. Kerner isn't here… we have a study period." She looked at her sketchbook and quickly snapped it shut, blushing.

"Oh," he sat and tapped his fingers on the desktop. "What're we s'pposed to do?" She laughed and looked at him doubtfully. Her smile fell when she saw his serious expression.

"You're serious?" She asked.

"Yeah."

She laughed again. "I always forget that you're famous and don't know any of this. We don't really _do_ anything. Except the lovey-dovey couple-y kids. They make out in secluded corners." Iggy could tell this was supposed to make him laugh, but Jade's humorless tone ruined it. She watched the teenagers with disdain. She laughed to herself, something Iggy just barely heard. He didn't question, but she started explaining anyway. "Freshman year in science class, there was a sub one day and Seth wanted to be one of them," she nodded to those in corners, "We'd just started going out the week before, but we were crazy for each other. I didn't agree to it, though. He admitted he was joking a little later, but we ended up going to his house later and making out there, so there really wasn't a point." Iggy couldn't help but notice her nostalgic expression.

Jade still hadn't told him what had happened between her and Seth, but she always spoke about him in the past tense, so he assumed they were broken up.

"Sounds like you really liked him."

"Yeah." She fingered the earrings she wore everyday; the ones with the tiny fangs. "But it didn't work out." She stared blankly at the wall.

"What happened?" Iggy asked gently.

She sighed, shaking her head. "Let me see your phone." She reached her hand out and Iggy obeyed, well, obediently. He'd learned not to question her the first day they'd met. He wasn't ready for an all out rant. She punched a few buttons and gave it back. "I put my number in there. Call me tonight."

* * *

_Ring, Ring._ Iggy was calling Jade after dinner. She didn't answer and her voicemail picked up. Iggy was about to hang up and call back later, but he heard laughing and a male voice spoke up.

"Hey, you've reached my amazing, beautiful, girlfriend Jade's cellular communication device! She didn't answer the phone; I'm not a girl, if you couldn't tell. Well, I'm gonna take this time to tell you, my listener, more like victim, that I love her, and she is the most amazing, wonderful, remarkable, stunning girl I have ever met. And I really hope that her parents let me take her to the junior-senior prom next year and—"

Iggy heard Jade exclaim, "Seth, my _parents_ listen to that!" in the background.

"I don't care, Jade. You said I could do this, so—"

"No I didn't!" she exclaimed and Seth laughed.

"Well, leave a message and she'll get back with you, only if I approve of the message, of course." There was more laughing and then a big crash as Iggy assumed the phone was dropped. "Oops," he heard faintly, then more laughing and then a beep to signal that the caller should record their message.

"Uh, hey Jade. You told me to call you, so here I am. This is Iggy, by the way. You can call me back later, but I'll see you at school tomorrow, so you don't have to… I guess I'll see you then. Bye." Iggy hung up. Jade never did call him back.

* * *

Jade was mortified. Why did she do that? Why the hell did she give Iggy Haines her _private cell phone_ number? Her logic didn't make sense, now that she thought back on it. As her phone had buzzed in her pocket, she'd pulled it out and stared at the screen, terrified of what words would pour out of her mouth if she answered.

She knew it was Iggy. She didn't recognize the number and no one but her parents and her almost-best-friend Xela called anymore. She never answered the former; that was a rule of thumb. When she was in a good mood, she answered the latter, though it always managed to make her draw into herself more. No one knew what to say anymore, not even Xela. Words like 'it'll be okay,' and 'you'll get over it soon enough,' had no effect, other than causing her to cringe inwardly. They didn't get it.

They all knew what had happened. No one spoke of it; no one even looked at Jade now that the… anniversary of it was coming up. Anniversary was hardly the word to use in Jade's situation. It was definitely _not_ something to celebrate.

Iggy had been the only one to speak with her, to be civil with her. Of course, he didn't know what she was like before; he'd only known the post-_it_ version of Jade. That was what Jade always made it out to be when she thought long and hard about emotions that surfaced when she looked at Iggy, like the warmth she hadn't felt since _it._ And he had a _girlfriend;_ she had to keep reminding herself that; the emotions, no matter how enjoyable, were not welcome.

She couldn't afford to get close to _anyone_. Not after what had happened.

She couldn't betray _him_. Not now.

**(Well… that was angsty… and the 'him' at the end doesn't refer to Iggy…)**

* * *

Mr. Kerner wasn't there again. Iggy mentally rejoiced at the chance to talk to Jade; he'd found himself looking forward to their short conversations every day in World History Class. They would poke fun at Mr. Kerner when there was a video playing or during a group activity when Max was arguing and Fang was saving her ass.

Iggy noticed that Jade absolutely _loved_ poking fun at him or his fangirls. It seemed to make her day worthwhile. Iggy found it a little annoying, but she'd been getting better about it. He could see the Jade that he'd heard on the voicemail with Seth, the happy, laughing, and joking version, coming to the surface.

All he could infer was that her depression had to do with Seth. She always sounded happy when she was reminiscing about him, but she became dejected when she came back to the present.

Iggy grinned as he walked into sixth period World History and took his seat next to Jade. She didn't look up when he said hi. She didn't even acknowledge his presence.

"Hello? Jade? Anyone home?" he asked, waving a hand in front of her eyes. She still stared blankly at the wall in front of her. He lightly shook her shoulder; _that_ certainly got a response out of her. She jerked away from him and grabbed his wrist, twisting it so it screamed with pain.

"Don't touch me, pretty boy," she snarled, not meeting his eyes. He was taken aback. Why the sudden change of attitude?

"Sorry, Jade," he said with a smirk, "A little cranky today, are we?" He laughed lightly but stopped when she scoffed.

"I don't even know why I started talking to you in the first place," she muttered, more to herself than to Iggy. He knew it was meant for his ears, though.

"You found me so interesting and attractive, you just _had_ to know who I was, obviously," he teased, trying to lighten her mood. It was a bad idea. She turned her once teasing, now ruthless green eyes upon him.

"I already _knew_ who you were, you arrogant bastard!" She exclaimed. Others in the room turned to stare. Jade the mute, Jade the one that _everyone_ thought was emotionally unstable, was raising her voice? This was scary. New. Different. Whatever. They waved it off after a few minutes and went back to their private conversations, all thoughts of it leaving their minds in an instant.

"Relax, Jade, I'm just making a joke. I didn't mean it," he offered, softening his voice and taking the teasing edge out of it.

"Just like you didn't mean anything else you ever said," she concluded, gathering her books. She stood and walked to a secluded corner of desks where no one else was sitting. She'd kicked the unsocial freaks out earlier in preparation for her move. She sat down and never once looked back at Iggy.

* * *

The next day, Mr. Kerner was back, but Jade was not. She simply didn't show up to school. Iggy would never admit he was upset. He had Max, what more did he need?

But things with Max weren't exactly working out. They'd been fighting so much lately… As much as he hated to admit it, he knew she loved Fang, not him. And that made him jealous.

Fang had it so much better than Iggy did. He had _real_ talent; Iggy's singing was just mediocre compared to Fang's. Plus he could play football. And he was freaking _amazing _at it. Fang could have any girl he wanted, Max, to be specific, but Iggy couldn't. For him it was either Max or Jade. Max was taken by Fang (obviously) and Jade, he was pretty sure that whatever happened with Seth, no matter how big or small, she still loved him. So, to sum it all up, Fang had musical talent, physical talent, and he could get any girl he wanted. And what did Iggy get? Fame. Which wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

This was totally random, but things with Max weren't working out so well. He didn't trust himself to stay perfectly fine with her hanging out with Fang all the time. He felt like he couldn't trust her at all. He had a feeling he was going to break up with her soon.

* * *

_First person- Max~ A few days later, on April 15 (a.k.a. National Dooms Day. I will explain…)_

I twirled Iggy's Christmas ring around my right ring finger, not really paying attention to the Latin teacher. She was in a boring mood today. Fang was sitting with Brittany across the room, trying to tell her he wanted to break up. I was surprised they'd even lasted this long. She was so annoying; I never could've dealt with it. It was entertaining to watch, at least. She kept giving him big, puppy dog eyes and he would have to start all over. I saw him saying the same thing over and over to her, 'I love someone else.' He still wouldn't tell me who this 'someone else' was.

Next to me, Iggy passed me a folded piece of paper. I opened it under my desk.

_I wanna talk later… meet me outside after school?_ None of his little smiley faces on this one. I caught his look, it was deathly serious. What was this about?

_Yeah, sure. What's this about?_ He crumpled the paper and tossed it into the trashcan.

"I'll explain later," he said, sitting back down.

Class couldn't go any slower after that. Every second seemed like a minute, every minute an hour, and an hour felt like the end of class. Finally. Iggy was avoiding me, so Fang walked me back to my locker. I was (unsuccessfully) trying to hide my anxiousness at whatever Iggy had to talk about. Fang surprisingly ignored it.

"Did you manage to break up with her?" I asked carefully. I shut my locker with as much force as was necessary to shut the faulty door. He shrugged.

"She took a hint when I said who the 'someone else' was," he carefully avoided my eyes.

"And who might that be?"

He avoided the question, "Why are you so nervous? And where's Iggy? Isn't he always hanging around here after school? You _are_ dating him after all," Fang accused, looking around. He'd taken to shooting Iggy down in every way possible lately. Quite frankly, it was getting annoying.

"Would you stop insulting him at every turn you get? I don't find it very appealing." I glared at him and he instantly gave me an apologetic look.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

I sighed, "It's just that he wants to talk or something, and I'm nervous cause he was being all serious and not joking around, like he always does." Fang walked with me outside.

"Will you need a ride home?"

"I don't know how long we'll be… Can I call you if I do? We might walk home. We've done it before, no big deal." Fang glanced at me warily, but nodded.

"Just call me if you need _anything_, okay?" I nodded reluctantly and watched him walk to his SUV, glancing at me over his shoulder before he got in and drove off.

I found Iggy leaning against a large pine tree in the side yard of Manhattan High. He smiled sadly when he saw me and pushed off the tree, coming towards me.

"Hey, what's this abo—" I was cut off as Iggy pressed his mouth to mine. It was a short kiss, but I enjoyed the taste of it.

"Sorry, Max… I shouldn't have done that," he said, looking down when we'd both pulled away. I looked at him oddly.

"What do you mean, Iggy? We're _dating,_ that's _normal_." Iggy shook his head.

"Max… We've been going out for six months, but for the last four we've been fighting constantly. I think it would be best…"

"If we broke up?" I asked sadly. I _knew_ this was coming.

"Yeah… um… I guess I should go then… I'm sure Fang will take you home or something…" And with that, Iggy left me in my thoughts.

* * *

_Third person~ Jade_

Jade ran into Iggy whilst getting her books from Manhattan High. She had just been dropped off by a sleek black car and gotten out when Iggy was leaving the parking lot on foot. She froze, deer in headlights, when she saw him.

Iggy was too tired to deal with anyone, but he tended to make exceptions for Jade, she was special.

"Hey," he said, smiling softly. Her expression hardened.

"What the hell do you want?" She growled. She would never admit it now, but she liked the way he stood his ground when she was mad. Not even her parents would stick around to see _that_ show.

"Just to talk," he said simply. She could tell he was drained. Ha, like she cared. She was still going to be ruthless with him.

"Just leave me alone," she said. She wanted to talk to him, she wanted to break down and tell him everything. She wanted to complain and cry and be a girl, but she couldn't. She was stronger than that. He was a shallow, arrogant, son of a bi-

"What's wrong, Jade? You weren't in class today." Damn him for interrupting her thoughts.

"Nothing's wrong," she protested. The effect was ruined by the crack in her voice.

"Your voice cracked. What's wrong?" He asked again, firmer this time.

"I said nothing's wrong, now leave me alone," she growled this out, trying to walk past him, he wasn't letting that happen.

"I'm not letting you go until you tell me. Now, for the last time. What. Is. Wrong." He was growling now, and Jade smirked with satisfaction that she'd gotten him all worked up. "Was it something I did? Please, Jade, if I did something, tell me, okay?"

"It wasn't something you did," she answered firmly. It was all her, all stupid, stupid her. All her stupid hormones, stupid feelings, and stupid past. That stupid knife… and her stupid mind…

_Damn Seth for his bravery… No. I didn't stop him…_

"Then what the hell was it?" He asked, really worked up now. She almost all out smiled. He noticed. "And what's that smirk for? Do you not think I care about you?" Her smirk grew.

"No." This was perfect to get him all worked up.

"Why the hell are you so cynical and angry all the time? Do you not think that someone else might care for you? With your comments, everyone thinks you hate them. You might even hate me, for all I know! No one can be friends with you that way! Why don't you let anyone get close?" She wasn't expecting that one.

The words came out of her mouth before she could stop them, "You wanna know why? Because I watched my boyfriend as he was murdered!"

* * *

**Wow. See? I said it was important. I hope you liked this chapter… Does anti Miggy count as Fax? I hope it does…**

**The breakup happened on April 15. In my world, that is National Dooms Day. It's National Kill Kelsey (me) Day, my brother's birthday, the day the Titanic sunk, the day Abraham Lincoln died, and Tax Day, all rolled up in one. See? It's just terrible.**

**Credit to Ai-chan for helping me out with this… She was on a bus to Medina, Texas and trying to sleep, yet she still dealt with my nagging and gave me that last Iggy line. I asked her later, "How should he die?" (referring to Seth, not Iggy) And she said, "Well… it's in Manhattan, right?" I immediately thought that she wanted me to kill him off by having him shoved off the Brooklyn Bridge… Ah… Newsies on the mind.**

**Tell me what you thought of this chapter. I thought it was too angsty, but not as angsty as a chapter coming up in six or seven chapters…**

**Review. Now. I posted this a month early. Be freaking happy and make me more freaking happy than I already am and REVIEW.**

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	28. Chapter 28

**I'm so glad everyone loved that last chapter, however depressing it might have been… this one will take a slightly better tone to it… And for all those Iggy (in this story) haters… You shall LOVE this chapter. Finally, we can get past this whole 'Max and Iggy' crap and get on to the FAX! And Jade and Max make up in this chapter… :D**

**And! I dropped my band class! Meaning I have a Study Hall now! That means the twice a month update rule is ABOLISHED! Updates will come as quickly as I can make them!**

**Oh. Speaking of study hall… I'm a sophomore this year, ya know? So there's this freshman in my IS (that's independent study/study hall) and I swear. He IS Fang. He's got the hair, the attitude, even the clothes. Because of this, I decided to stalk him. I know his full name, his 3****rd**** period class (IS) and his sixth period class (Geometry).**

**Moral of the above story: Stay away from Ani. She's a creeper when it comes to guys that happen to look like fictional characters.**

**Some review replies because I recently enabled anonymous reviews and I got a spam of them!**

**Ani: I love the name! It's my Japanese name :) I'm glad that you're 'at the edge of your seat about to fall off a cliff' because of my story. :D**

**wings: Yeah, the answering machine was fun to write :D I'm updating sooner than I thought, actually, so be happy!**

**bob: Why yes. Yes it was.**

**And I don't own Maximum Ride.**

* * *

_I'm gonna make this all soap opera-y…_

_*eyes the readers with a dramatic turn of the head* Previously, on Moving On…_

"_Why the hell are you so cynical and angry all the time? Do you not think that someone else might care for you? With your comments, everyone thinks you hate them. You might even hate me, for all I know! No one can be friends with you that way! Why don't you let anyone get close?" She wasn't expecting that one._

_The words came out of her mouth before she could stop them, "You wanna know why? Because I watched my boyfriend as he was murdered!"…_

Jade turned from Iggy and stormed into the school, furiously wiping the tears from her eyes. She pushed her gawking classmates away from her as she tore through the school in a blind rage, trying to find her locker. She found it and almost tore it off the hinges as she opened it and grabbed her Pre-Cal book. All this for a stupid Pre-Cal book. She slammed the door to her locker and it bounced open. Seething, she kicked it, causing a dent in the black metal. At this point, she really didn't care. Then, she realized she'd left her phone in the car, so she couldn't text her mom to come get her. That got her even madder, so she punched her locker, causing another dent.

Jade shoved past a few unfortunate freshmen and went to the side of the school, where she and… she couldn't even _think_ his name, would always go after school when they wanted to be alone. She saw that despicable girl, Max, sitting under a pine tree with a far away look on her face, but again, Jade really didn't care. She sat with her back against the wall of the school, about three yards from Max, and let the tears stream down her face.

Today was just a terrible day. First, she'd had to pretend to be sick and then got caught, forced to go to school and get her Pre-Cal book, then she ran into Iggy and now she was having flash backs. Great. And she had to let that bitch Max see her cry.

The flashbacks were coming strong now… She was just that innocent sixteen-year-old, going to a movie with her boyfriend and… The ambulance and blood and tears and she loved him so damn much and he was dead and she'd never see him again. Jade had considered (more than once) taking her own life so she could see him again. All she wanted was to see him. On several occasions, she'd gotten close. The scars lining the inside of her wrists proved that. The scars on the outside of her arms were proof of that night_. _But she hadn't cut since… six months ago. There were no fresh cuts. It was too much now, she was about to scratch her own wrist and re-open the healing cuts when Max spoke up.

"Jade, don't." Max's voice was weak and cracked on both words. Jade looked up, murder in her eyes.

"You can't tell me what to do," she spat, but rested her arms on the ground anyway. The blood was just a trigger to that night, anyway.

"Shouldn't you be home? I thought you weren't at school today," Max said with a friendly but sad smile.

"I wasn't." Jade refused to look at Max's face. Why was she even talking to the bitch that told everyone about what happened?

"Then why are you here?" It wasn't an unfriendly question, Max just wanted to know.

"I had to pick up my Pre-Cal book." Jade held up the large textbook as proof.

"Why are you crying?" Max wiped tears from her own eyes.

"Why are _you_ crying?"

"Iggy and I broke up." Jade's eyes widened a fraction of an inch, but Max didn't notice it.

"He made me tell him about what happened to Seth," Jade said with malice, happy to be able to say why she was mad. Now she just wanted a picture of his face that she could rip to shreds and then burn.

"Son of a bitch," Max mumbled. She stood. "Would you mind if I sat next to you?" Jade shrugged and wiped her nose on the sleeve of her long sleeved hoodie.

"Why did you tell other people about it?" Jade didn't have to specify for Max to know what she was talking about.

"I didn't mean to… My little brothers over heard me talking with Fang on the phone. I'm really sorry, Jade."

Despite her anger at Iggy, she was in a forgiving mood… "I guess it's all right… Do you have a phone on you?" She sniffed again.

Max felt her pockets and cursed. "I forgot it… again. I guess we're stuck here until someone realizes we're missing… You wanna talk about how much we hate Iggy?"

Jade got an evil glint in her eyes and nodded. "First off, his ego's way too big for his damn head…"

* * *

Fang looked at his watch, then out the window. 3:45 and Max _still_ wasn't home. Sure, he saw Iggy drive up and get out of his car, looking wonderfully depressed, but Max wasn't with him.

Another fifteen minutes passed and Fang couldn't take it anymore. Where _was _she? He was sure that Iggy knew.

Fang jogged across the street and pounded on Max's front door. Angel opened it.

"Hi Fang! Max isn't here," she said, smiling up at him, well, angelically.

"Do you know where she is?" Fang asked urgently, running a hand through his black hair. Angel shook her head. "Could I talk to Iggy then?"

"I think he's in his room… It's right next to Max's… Good luck getting him to talk. He seemed like he was in a bad mood," Angel said, furrowing her brow. Fang smiled at her cuteness and found Iggy's door open.

He stood in the doorway. "Where's Max?"

Iggy looked up, red rims around his eyes. Wow. He must be a total _wimp_ if he was crying. Fang couldn't (and didn't even try) to stop the thought from crossing his mind.

"I don't know." Fang sighed angrily and glared at Iggy.

"You're her boyfriend, you should know where she is."

Iggy mumbled something that Fang couldn't hear.

"What?" He asked, stepping into Iggy's room. A picture frame was turned around on his bed stand and his books were all over the floor.

"I said I'm not her boyfriend anymore," Iggy said, a little louder now, but Fang didn't really hear him.

"What?" He asked again.

Iggy glared up at him, walking over to him and forcing him out of the room. "I said I'm not her godamn boyfriend anymore so I don't know where the hell she is! Now leave!" Angel wasn't kidding when she said he was in a bad mood…

Fang's heart leaped and twisted in anger at the same time. Max wasn't dating that jerk anymore, but he also ditched her…

"You mean you left her at school? Just all alone? Why the hell would you do something stupid like that?"

"I don't know, Fang! I don't freaking know! Now leave me alone, okay?" And Iggy slammed the door in his face.

* * *

You know how people always say not to drive angry? That it was just as bad as driving drunk? Well than Fang should be arrested. He. Was. Pissed. What kind of guy just ditches a girl outside with no ride home in this heat? Fang shook his head as he pulled up to the school parking lot and slammed the door open, then shut. He'd forgotten to wear his seatbelt. Oops.

Fang made a beeline for the side of the school, he'd seen a flash of blonde hair when he was driving by at about 50 miles per hour. He might've run over a dog. Fang felt bad for his car.

He rounded the corner and saw not only Max, but Jade sitting against the wall and giggling while crying. Max handed a piece of paper to Jade, who ripped it in half and handed the other half back to Max. They indulged themselves in ripping it to shreds. Jade and Max were both wiping tears from their eyes, but they looked like they were having fun. Fang leaned against the brick wall and watched with a small smile as the pair took turns eating a shred of the paper. Fang had to say, he was curious, especially when Jade dug around in her purse and uncovered a lighter, setting fire so several of the shreds and then stomping the fire out.

"…wonder if we should walk home," Max said and Fang grinned despite himself. He pushed off the wall and came up next to Jade.

"And that's what I'm here for," he said, smiling at the pair. Max jumped up and tackled him in a hug.

"Fang!" She yelled, burying her face in his shoulder. He felt tears soak through his shirt, but he didn't care, he was just happy to be hugging Max without her jealous boyfriend breathing down his neck.

"Hey Max. I talked to Iggy… he said what happened. Are you alright?"

"Yeah…" Max mumbled, pushing back from him, now. Fang smiled at her again and wiped a tear away from her face with his thumb. Max smiled weakly and went to Jade, pulling her up.

"I was wondering when you'd show up," Jade said wryly, wiping her nose on the sleeve of her shirt. Fang smiled again and put a comforting arm around her.

"I know what happened with Max, but what about you?" Fang asked. He assumed that the two girls had made up, considering they were sitting and talking before he came. Jade shot a quick glance at Max and ducked out from under Fang's arm.

"Just… stuff, you know?" Fang had the feeling she wasn't telling the whole truth, but he didn't dare pry when Jade was crying. It was safe to assume that something had caused her to think of Seth.

"You girls need a ride home?" Fang asked, shoving his hands deep in his pockets and looking from Max to Jade and back.

"Well, I could just call my parents and have them come and get me, if you have a phone, Fang," Jade said, following Fang to his car with Max.

"What if we all just spent the night at Fang's place? It's Friday and I really don't wanna see Iggy tonight…" Max suggested and Fang (along with Jade) nodded.

* * *

_First Person_

"Angel, sweetie, could you do me a huge favor?" I said into the phone. I was sitting in Fang's room at the bar, Fang was toying with a guitar; Jade was playing the keyboard.

"Yeah, Max!" She said enthusiastically.

"Can you go to my room and grab two pairs of sweatpants, two t-shirts, and my phone and bring them over to Fang's house?"

"Sure! Are you mad at Iggy? 'Cause it seems like he's mad at you, too." I sighed at her innocence.

"Yes, Ange… Iggy and I are very mad at each other..."

"So mad that you'll never kiss him again? That was icky to watch." I could just imagine Angel wrinkling her nose and I laughed.

"That's right, Angel. No more kissing Iggy." That caught Fang's attention and he chuckled, looking oddly happy.

"And you'll only be kissing Fang now, right?"

I paled and spoke quietly. "Just bring the clothes over, Angel. And don't forget my phone." Jade looked up and smiled slightly at me, giving me the look so I knew we were going to be talking later.

I was trying not to think too much about Iggy… I knew that I would start crying if I thought about the fact that we'd broken up.

Five minutes later, the doorbell rang and Fang left to answer it, leaving Jade and I alone.

She came up to me and took the seat next to me. "What was that with Angel on the phone? I believe I overheard Angel saying something about kissing Fang?" Jade wasn't smiling, but I could tell that she was holding it back.

"She's seven. She doesn't know what she's talking about," I mumbled, rubbing my cheeks to hide my blush. For heaven's sake, I was just broken up with! I shouldn't be blushing at the thought of my best friend kissing me.

"Is there something going on with you and Fang?" Jade asked, getting up and walking across the room to the keyboard again. She played a short chord progression and looked up at me expectantly. "Well?"

"We kissed… like, _once._ Before I was dating Iggy." Fang came back into the room and I stopped talking, looking away from him.

Fang threw me a shirt and some sweatpants; he did the same to Jade. "You called your mom, right Jay?" Fang asked. She nodded and went back to the keyboard, playing a melody and smiling wistfully, but not before smirking mischievously at me.

Jade stopped playing abruptly and looked from Fang to me with a look of utter amazement on her face. "Iggy's a jerk."

Fang looked up from his guitar and paper, eyeing Jade carefully before breaking out in a grin. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, for one, he ditched me, _right_ after we'd broken up," I explained and Jade nodded.

"And he's an egomaniac. He can't get enough of himself," Jade continued and I nodded.

"I'm just gonna let you girls go off on a rant now…" Fang said and I grinned.

I wrinkled my nose. "He's a faggot face."

Jade giggled quietly. "Yeah, and he's a total bitch."

"Whiny, too."

"He needs to fall in a hole and die."

I grinned. "Right after I tear him to shreds."

"He's such a stupid bastard. He can go burn in the deepest levels of Hell for all I care."

"Before that, we should bury him alive."

"Or set a bomb off in his house."

"Or just straight up shoot him."

"But that would be a quick and easy death…"

"Not if we shot a different joint each time. Say we shot his fingers off first, then his shoulder… then elbow…"

"Oh! And what if we copied off that movie and took off every facial feature except his eyes so he would have to _see_ everyone being disgusted of his face?"

Fang looked up. "You two are way too evil for your own good."

We just grinned.

* * *

"Bye Max, Fang. I'll see you at school on Monday… maybe. I'm not sure if I'll be there… But I'll text both of you." With that, Jade climbed into her parents' car and they drove to Jade's home.

Fang pulled me back inside by the back of my shirt and we went to his room. He put a CD in and we sat together on the floor.

With Jade gone, I had time to think now… I wasn't talking to her all the time and Fang wasn't really the talkative type… so we sat and thought.

I'd been dating Iggy for six months… _Six_ _months_ was a long time… I'd even started to believe that I loved Iggy. Now, though, he wasn't my boyfriend. I couldn't go to him for everything… he wouldn't listen to me whenever I chose… I didn't have anyone to make me feel better about myself.

I almost started crying right then, but I remembered Fang was in the room. I bit my lip and hugged my knees to my chest, staring at the wall across from me. I felt Fang's gaze on me, but I ignored it, continuing to stare and listen to Fang's CD.

Fang put an arm around me and rubbed between my shoulder blades because he knew I liked it. "What's up?" He asked quietly as he rubbed my back. I closed my eyes.

"It's nothing," I squeaked, ashamed that my voice cracked.

Fang wasn't buying it. "Max, I know when you're upset."

"So?" I asked, "Just drop it. I said it was nothing, right?" I tried to lace my words with harshness, but the lump in my throat was currently making that hard.

"Max—"

"Fang, I said drop it, so drop it, alright?" I shouted, causing him to flinch away from me. My voice got suddenly quieter. "I just don't wanna talk about it."

Fang paused for a moment. "Max, you don't always have to be strong for me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. It came out harsher than I intended.

Fang looked at me, his black eyes full of emotion. "Exactly what I said. You can cry, you know. I won't think any less of you."

His statement alone caused the tears that were threatening to pour over the edge of my eyes and I buried my head in his shoulder and cried.

* * *

_Third Person_

Fang wasn't sure why Max was crying. She'd seemed okay with the breakup earlier. Maybe it was just getting to her now… finally hitting the inevitable shock stage. Acceptance would come soon, he hoped. He wanted Max to get over Iggy. Now.

Fang saw himself as an incredibly greedy creature. He wanted Max. He wanted her all to himself. He wasn't willing to share.

It made him angry that someone, specifically Iggy, broke Max's heart. _His_ Max's heart. He figured since he was so intent on having Max to himself, he might as well call her his. It's what she was bound to be, anyway. Fang wanted to _kill_ Iggy for doing this to her. Maybe he would go over there today and _finally_ give Iggy the face-full-of-fist he deserved. It would be so satisfying to just punch him for being the total douche that he was.

Fang cleared his mind and went back to taking in everything about Max. Her hair was messy (he liked it that way), but it still smelled like strawberries and his pillow. She was hugging him around his neck; her hands were touching the exposed skin of his shoulder and arm. He wondered if her hands were as hot as his shoulder and arm felt. Her shirt was riding up on her stomach and just barely touching the bare skin of his own stomach, causing that skin to heat up as well.

All at once, Fang was overcome with his love for her and kissed the top of her head. He loved _everything_ about her. Her looks, smell, sound, touch, and most definitely her taste…

Fang was definitely a lovesick teenager.

He was so screwed.

* * *

**So I hoped everyone liked this chapter. It's longer than most, yet I spent barely three days writing it…**

**Well, yesterday, I saw that movie, Vampires Suck. I have one thing to say. TEAM JACOB, BITCH.**

**Um… Any Narnia Fans? You should go check out EPIC by HILLBILLYHUNTERS XD. As the name suggests, it's EPIC. And I'm beta-ing for one of the authors. If you've seen Prince Caspian (as in, the movie), you'll LOVE this story. Promise.**

**REVIEW. I'm updating a week early. You love me. REVIEW.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Yo. I'm glad everyone liked that last chapter… I had fun writing it. Yeah.**

**Shadow's here, everyone! See him? *Ai-chan poofs to Twitch's house and Gibbs smacks her, then poofs away*  
Shadow: How's tricks, ev'ryone? Doin' awright?  
Twitch: *rolls eyes* I'm sorry about him. Shadow seems to think that he's in 1899… I guess I should explain who Shadow is… He's… well, it's hard to explain…  
Shadow: Ise ya split poisonalaty! **(I'm your split personality! Shadow has a bit of an accent)**  
Twitch: Well… that would be the best way to describe him… *shoves paper at Shadow* Here, read this.  
Shadow: Can' read. Ya know dat, right, Intro?  
Twitch: Stop with the 'Intro' business. Call me Twitch. How did you survive being a Newsie without being able to read? *turns to readers* Sorry about that. I don't own Maximum Ride. **

_Third Person_

Iggy wasn't sure what he should do. Beth could _not_ find out that he and Max were no longer together. He wanted Beth's final days to be happy. He was (contrary to popular belief) actually a relatively nice person, even though he left Max all alone… He was so confused. Max was here, but she was avoiding him. Their rooms were next to each other, so he could hear the muffled bangs as she threw things across the room and the rips as she tore posters of him from her walls. He winced as there was a sound of breaking glass and a scream of frustration.

Iggy had to admit, he was a little scared.

What should he tell Max? He needed Beth to believe they were still together, but he doubted Max would buy anything he said.

His eyes landed on a tabloid magazine he'd picked up because it had some great pictures of Max in it. Maybe that would work…

* * *

_First Person_

I sat heavily on my bed and smiled in triumph at my bare walls. _Finally_ all those pictures of Iggy's ugly face gone from my sight. They were lying in a heap on my floor, mostly ripped to shreds.

A knock on my door brought me out of my musings. "Who is it?" The door opened and Iggy was standing in my doorway. I glared up at him. "Get lost. I don't wanna talk to you." Iggy stayed put and leaned on the doorframe.

"Can I just talk to you?" He asked quietly.

"About?" I prompted, sitting up and crossing my arms.

"Your mom," he said, taking my not killing him as an invitation into my room. I glared at him as he leaned against the wall furthest from me. His eyes found the ripped up posters, but he didn't say anything.

"What about her?" I kept my tone void of emotion.

"D'you think… Um… could we _not_ tell her that we broke up… um… she's sure to tell the press and then they'd swarm the house… I don't think you'd want that." At this, he looked up at me with hopeful eyes and I held back a laugh.

However selfish it might have been for Iggy to suggest that, I nodded. "I suppose that would be alright. Now get the hell out of my sight."

* * *

_Third Person. Sunday night._

Jade sat cross-legged on her bed and stared at the wall. Just stared at it. She was too damn apathetic to care that it was four in the morning and she still hadn't fallen asleep. She was tired… she was so tired… but she couldn't sleep. She knew the nightmares would plague her as they had been for the last ten months. Instead, she stared at a wall, listening to death metal with a blank expression. The music was soothing. It reminded her that some peoples' lives sucked _way_ more than her own did. Right now, that was an encouraging thought.

Seth was dead. It wasn't the first time the thought had openly crossed Jade's mind. She knew it wouldn't be the last. The shrink said that thinking and speaking openly about it would help her get over it. She only went to that shrink once. Jade was strongly willed. She'd be able to deal with the thoughts on her own. At least, she thought she could.

She closed her eyes and fell back onto the bed, though she didn't fall asleep. She wanted to talk to someone… She pulled out her phone and found Fang's phone number. Her finger hovered over the call button. He said she could call whenever, right? She sure hoped he meant it. She pressed the green button.

_Ring. Ring. Ring._ He picked up on the ninth ring. "Hello?" A groggy and deeply male voice asked and Jade smirked on the other end.

"I'm sorry it's so late," she said simply.

"Who is this?" He asked and Jade smiled all out. Fang was so funny when he was tired.

"It's Jade, dumbass. You said I could call you whenever, so that's what I'm doing. I just wanna talk."

Fang took a minute to respond. "About?"

"Anything. How's Max doing?"

"Max…" Fang breathed, "She's pretty… I love her."

Now Jade had to bite back her laughs. "Really?" Jade asked and Fang breathed heavily, making the phone give feedback.

"Uh-huh." Fang sounded so brainless that Jade laughed aloud. A first in… ten months. "Jade, you sound pretty when you laugh," Fang said, again sounding like a brainless idiot with no effort.

"Fang, I think you're a bit tired, so I'll let you go, alright? Go back to sleep." Jade hung up the phone and collapsed back on her bed with a smile on her face. She fell into a dreamless sleep shortly thereafter.

* * *

_Third Person… A few days later._

Jade wasn't at school Monday. Or Tuesday. Iggy was about to get her address from Fang and Max and go to her house, demanding an explanation if she wasn't there by Wednesday.

Iggy thanked God when he saw her sitting in her usual seat on Wednesday afternoon in Mr. Kerner's class. He sat carefully next to her and pulled out a piece of paper.

_I'm so sorry._ He wrote on it, sliding it over to her desk. She glanced at it, met his eyes for a split second, then stole his pencil and wrote her response.

_So? _Iggy took his pencil back.

_I wrote a song… to you._ He blushed as she read it and jotted her answer.

_Cough up some lyrics, then._ Iggy handed her a folded piece of paper with his messy handwriting covering most of it. Words were crossed out repeatedly, but the end product was this:

_I don't like the steps I took  
To get to look  
Into your deepest feelings  
And I don't like the place I'm in  
Headspace within the hardwood and the ceiling_

_Cause if I'm restless then why do I  
I want nothing but to rest my soul?  
And I don't get this and I know why  
You see sometimes things are just beyond control_

_But I don't mind  
But I'm not surprised to find that you do  
I'm not surprised to find that you do  
I know you do  
And I feel fine  
But I know the same does not apply to you  
I know the same does not apply to you  
So I guess that I'll curl up and die too_

_Clinging to the remnants of perfection  
Like most do after they break it  
Not knowing which direction's the correct one  
Do I discard or remake it?_

_Cause if I don't know then I don't know  
But I may know someone who knows me more than I  
And If I somehow could rest this soul  
Maybe control could find its way back to my life_

_Well I don't mind  
But I'm not surprised to find that you do  
You see I know that I have done all this to you  
To you  
And I feel fine  
But I know the same does not apply to you  
Yeah I know the same does not apply to you  
So I guess that I'll curl up and die too  
Yeah I'll curl up until I die with you._

Jade finished reading the lyrics and looked up to Iggy. She smirked and nodded.

"Not bad, pretty boy." Iggy grinned back at her.

"Thanks, it's called _Curl Up And Die,_" he said. She nodded again. "I'm really, _really_ sorry, Jade. I forced you to tell me what was wrong and… I was way out of line. No excuses." Jade rolled her eyes, hitting Iggy's shoulder in good humor.

"You had just broken up with Max. You're fine."

Iggy smiled back at her and class started shortly thereafter.

* * *

_First Person. Anyone notice that I haven't been putting ANY Fax in first person lately? Hehe… This is Sunday… after that last part._

My phone went off in my pocket, again blasting _Vanilla Twilight_ by Owl City.

"Hello?" I asked, not looking at the caller ID.

"Hey," Fang said, sounding rather happy.

I smiled on impulse and leaned against the headboard of my bed. "Hi," I said airily.

"Are you doing anything?" I don't know why, but my heart skipped a beat when he asked that. He sounded… hopeful.

"Not really," I said, keeping my voice even. I was reacting in strange ways to his question.

"You wanna go see a movie?" That was Fang for you, short and to-the-point.

I took a big breath, disguising it as a sigh. Fang _didn't_ mean it as a date. We went to see movies all the time before Iggy came into my life.

"I don't have any money," I said, disappointed.

"Oh, that's fine. I'll pay for you."

"That's fine, then. I'll be ready in five minutes," I said, and I hung up the phone.

* * *

_I'm skipping the movie. They saw… Vampires Suck because I saw that movie recently…_

"That movie was great!" I said, laughing with Fang as we walked out of the movie theater and into the parking lot, to his car. Well, I was laughing and Fang was smirking while watching me.

"Yeah," Fang said, nodding in agreement. He opened my door for me, always the gentleman, and climbed into the driver's seat. It was still early, around 6:30. "Do you wanna go for a walk in Central Park? We haven't really _talked_ in a while." Fang started the SUV and backed out of his parking space.

I sat back in my seat. "That seems like a good idea," I said, grinning. Talking to Fang was always… entertaining. He never really said much, but I always knew he was listening.

As Fang was driving to the park, I tried to ignore the butterflies reeking havoc on my nerves. I didn't know what was up with me. Every time I thought about Fang, they would flare up again. I used to get like this around Iggy, but it had been a long time since I felt like this around _that_ particular pop star. Surely, Fang didn't get the same feelings I did when he looked at me. Surely, he didn't have random flashbacks to kissing me when I crossed his mind. Of course not; he was Fang. Fang didn't have _feelings._

Back to the main plot, we reached the park and Fang opened my door again.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't be chivalrous. Chivalry is dead," I declared, climbing out of the SUV and stumbling as I reached the ground. Fang grabbed me from behind.

"I know, Max," he whispered, his lips touching the cartilage of my ear and making me shiver. I awkwardly pulled away as the butterflies flared up again and Fang locked his SUV, walking with me towards the lake near the middle of the park.

"So…" I said.

"So…" Fang imitated. After a minute or two of awkward silence, Fang rammed into me, knocking me into a nearby tree. "Whoops," he said sarcastically, grinning at me and making me blush and look away.

I came back next to him. "That wasn't very nice, Fang," I said unhappily, but grinning nonetheless. I slammed into him, making him stumble off the path and hit his back against a rough barked tree. I stopped walking to make sure he recovered; my first mistake. Fang watched me carefully and pushed off from the tree and chased me. I shrieked as Angel did when the boys put ice down her shirt and ran from Fang, cutting across the path and running into the forest.

Fang cut me off easily. I let him grab my wrists and push me against a boulder. My second mistake. He gave me an evil look. "You're _so_ gonna get it for that, Maximum Ride," he said, letting go of my wrists and tickling me with both hands.

I giggled and shrieked as Fang tickled me relentlessly. In an attempt to throw him off, I shoved him by his shoulders, hard. My third mistake. Reacting quickly, Fang grabbed my waist and set me off balance, causing both of us to fall over. I landed on top of him, straddling his waist.

I swallowed and tried to keep myself from blushing as Fang grinned evilly at me. The butterflies went crazy as I leaned forward, unaware of what I was doing. I closed my eyes without seeming to notice as I kissed Fang on the mouth.

I didn't even realize we were kissing until Fang's hands found their way into my hair and pulled me closer to him. I felt him smile against me as he tilted his head to get closer to me. Oblivious to what I was doing, I kissed him back. Our lips were moving together perfectly.

When we pulled away, both gasping for breath, the butterflies went crazy as I opened my eyes and met Fang's. I finally understood what they were trying to say.

The nervousness when he asked me if I was busy, the butterflies, kissing him back without realizing it.

Did I… like Fang? As more than a friend?

* * *

**Gasp! I wasn't planning that!**

**Twitch: And that's why it's uncomfortable to wear a strapless bra, Shadow.  
Shadow: *gives Twitch a weird look* Ise don' tink Ise wants ta weah one a dem…  
Twitch: Damn right you don't, Shadow. So uncomfortable!**

**Anyway, I want you to review!**

**Aquapolartop gave me the idea to say this, so here we go!**

**REVIEW OR IGGY AND MAX WILL GET BACK TOGETHER!**

Always remember to read the fine print. The above will not happen. Even of you don't review.


	30. Chapter 30

**You guys are more moody than I am… And that's saying something, seeing as I have a chemical imbalance of Serotonin… the happy hormone. Iggy and Max ARE NOT going to get back together, that was an empty threat. You know, from now on, just ignore any threats I make. They're always empty…**

**200 reviews! Thanks guys :D Really means a lot to me that you guys actually care about this story. And you're all jealous of my Fruits Basket wallet now, right? Thought so.**

**I don't own Maximum Ride.**

* * *

_This chapter is dedicated to all those that reviewed the last chapter. Thanks again._

I slammed my pencil onto my desk, earning a disapproving look from the Latin teacher, but I didn't care. I was _finally_ done with my final exams. Meaning, for me, Junior year was _over._ Finally.

I glanced at the clock and tried not to look at Fang from the corner of my eye. Naturally, he had finished ten minutes before me and was staring at me from the corner of his eyes. He probably thought I couldn't tell. The funny thing about having a crush on someone; you could _always_ tell when they were looking at you.

I guess I should back up a little. After Fang and I… kissed (the thought still sent my stomach on a roller coaster), I concluded that I liked Fang. It was wonderfully awkward to be around him, now. I reckoned that I was screwed.

Now, earlier in my life, say… six months ago when Iggy was _not_ in my life, this whole 'crush on Fang' thing wouldn't have been such a big deal. Fang kissed me back then. Despite what you may think, I'm not so dense as to think that when a guy kisses a girl he just… felt like it. He must either want something from her, or he likes her. Fang isn't the type to use someone, so I assumed that he liked me. But that was then, and this is now.

Looking back on it all, I realized how incredibly _stupid_ I had been. Fang had been practically _throwing_ himself at me before Iggy came. Now, however, the tables were turned. There was _no way_ Fang liked me after the hell I put him through. I let him kiss me, then went off and dated another boy for six months. During which I had kissed him and had come crying to him when we were fighting. It was no wonder that Fang pushed me off him and hadn't spoken to me for the rest of the night when we kissed in the forest. He probably hated me by now.

"Pencils down," the Latin teacher said. "Your final exam is now over. Turn it in on my desk and then you may leave. Have a great summer, we'll see you back in August." I was the first to turn my paper in on her desk and I burst out of the classroom, Fang close behind me. I bolted to my locker and grabbed my few things, consisting of my (empty) backpack and a few papers.

Fang was leaning against the lockers next to mine, studying me. I met his eyes and blushed subtly, looking away awkwardly. "What?" I asked harshly, disguising my embarrassment from his scrutinizing stare. We started down the hall.

Fang shook his head. "It's nothing… I was just thinking about something." I tried to speed up; I saw Jade down the hall and I wanted to talk to her, but Fang slung a casual arm around my shoulder, slowing me down and causing me to turn tomato red. Jade caught my eye and raised an eyebrow, a talent of hers that annoyed me to no end, and I ducked out of Fang's arm. I jogged up to Jade with Fang behind me. He was my ride home.

"Hey," I said, smiling brightly and pretending like the guy I liked didn't just have his arm around me.

Jade gave me a calculating look, but shrugged. "Hi," she said, her words getting lost in the din of excited students yelling about their freedom.

"What are you doing this afternoon?" I asked.

"Nothing. Why?" Jade asked, her eyes catching those of someone behind me and giggling. Iggy came up behind me, resting his head on top of mine and casually leaning his elbows on my shoulders. We were broken up, yes, but we needed to keep appearances up. We were trying to stay out of the press for the time being. Fang looked on with disapproval, but he didn't say anything.

"I was thinking of going to the state fair this evening… did you wanna come? I think we need to hang out." Jade's eyes lit up and she nodded.

"What if the guys came?" She asked, shutting her locker and walking slowly with me towards the front of the building. I turned to Iggy, who was wearing a bored look, and Fang, who was staring into space indifferently.

"Do you two wanna come with Jade and me to the state fair?" Iggy and Fang looked at me, then at each other simultaneously, making Jade and I chuckle.

"I guess that would be okay…" Fang said.

"If we didn't have to talk to each other," Iggy concluded, holding the door open for the rest of us.

I laughed. "You two… Can't you just _try_ to get along? Iggy and I aren't dating anymore, so there's no reason to hate the other. You two would get along… swimmingly," I declared, earning myself an odd look from Jade.

"Swimmingly?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

I nodded with a grin, then turned to the boys. "So how about it?"

Fang and Iggy exchanged looks, then turned to me. "I suppose…" they said in unison and I cheered.

* * *

"Jade, are you _really_ gonna wear that?" Iggy asked with fake seriousness and a playful grin. She bumped shoulders with him and smirked defiantly.

"_Yes,_ Iggy. I'm all about the anti-fashion world," she said and fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

"Shut up, both of you," I said, laughing. "I think Jade looks _fine._"

Iggy laughed. "No one cares what _you_ think, Max. The press is going to be all over us if they know I'm here, and Jade is going to be photographed wearing _that,_" Iggy said, wrinkling his nose in fake disgust. "I'm disgusted to be associated with you mere commoners." He scoffed and sped up in front of us, shooting an evil look over his shoulder when he reached the ticket booth first. Jade, Fang, and I jogged to catch up.

"You don't have to act like you're all high and mighty because you're _famous,_ Iggy," Jade said bitterly. Only Fang and I caught that she was joking. Iggy looked offended.

He rolled his eyes, an action that Jade didn't see. He turned to the ticket dealer. "We need four of the all ride passes," he said with a smile.

Fang stepped forward, protest written across his face. "I can pay for my own, Iggy." He took out his wallet, but Iggy turned to Fang with a genuine smile.

"Don't sweat it, man. My treat for being such a jerk to you three." Fang stepped back in quiet suspicion. Iggy handed over the money and received four wristbands, handing one to each of us as we walked into the fair.

"What do you wanna do?" I asked, walking backwards in front of the group. Fang eyed me worriedly.

"Don't walk like that," he said, jamming his hands in his pockets. "It's not safe."

I just eyed him with contempt. "So? What do you guys wanna do?"

Jade's eyes were on one of those spinning rides. "Could we do that scrambler thing?"

Iggy and Fang looked to where she pointed. "I hate those spinning rides," Iggy said, shaking his head.

"Me too, but you two can go ride it, we'll meet you at the merry-go-round? We can play some carnival games or something," Fang said and turned with Iggy away from us.

Jade and I started for the spinning ride. "What is it with you and Fang?" Jade asked as we waited in line.

I blushed. "I…" Jade looked over at me and nudged me in the ribs. I caught her eyes and she chuckled.

"You like him?"

I nodded pitifully. "But I know he doesn't like me like that…"

Jade shook her head. "You don't know that… I think he likes you."

"Really?" I asked, a grin spreading across my face.

Jade laughed and gave me her 'you poor thing' look. "You've got it _bad._"

* * *

_Third Person_

"You think they're having fun?" Iggy asked out of nowhere. Fang looked over at the girls waiting in line. Max had just hit Jade's head playfully.

"Probably," Fang said, watching Max with longing. It didn't miss Iggy's gaze.

"You think they're talking about us?" Iggy took a handful of the popcorn he bought and stuffed it in his mouth. Jade was now slapping the back of Max's head repeatedly.

"Most likely." Fang grinned at the thought of Jade teasing Max about him. He knew it would happen.

"Fang."

Fang looked up at Iggy. "Yeah?"

"I'm really sorry. I know you love her… I didn't like ruining your chances."

Fang smiled slightly and nodded. He didn't need to ask if he was talking about Max. "It's alright… I understand why you did it."

Iggy gave Fang a surprised look. "You do?" Fang knew about Beth's lung cancer?

"Impulses are annoying," Fang said, looking into the distance with a regretful look.

"Oh… Yeah, they are, I guess."

Fang paused for a minute, mulling things over in his head. "She kissed me the other day. Max, I mean." Fang remembered the evening with pleasure.

Iggy grinned. "Yeah? What happened?"

"We went for a walk in the park and I started chasing her… Caught her and she pushed me over, but I brought her down with me. She landed on top of me and then… She just kind of kissed me."

Iggy couldn't help but notice Fang's upset expression. "And after that?"

"I pushed her off me and didn't talk to her for the rest of the night." Fang looked up and met Iggy's eyes.

"Why?" Iggy was speaking quietly now, letting Fang do the talking.

"Because if I kept on kissing her… it was gonna get too far. I scared myself with the thoughts going through my head." Fang ran his hand through his sloppy black hair and sighed angrily. "And now she's acting all weird around me. She won't even _look_ at me for longer than two seconds."

Iggy couldn't think of anything to say. "It'll work out. If you love her, I mean. Don't worry about it." He awkwardly balled up the popcorn bag and watched Fang carefully. He was fiddling with his shirt, brushing off dirt.

"Thanks," Fang said, so quietly that Iggy wasn't sure he heard.

Iggy just grinned back.

* * *

_First Person_

"Oh my gosh! Isn't that Iggy Haines and the lead singer from _The Silence_?" I heard a whisper from behind me. Iggy had his arm carefully around my shoulders. Surprisingly, Fang wasn't looking on with dislike anymore. He seemed to notice it, but didn't care. Jade was walking next to Fang, happily munching on some popcorn.

Soon after I heard that whispered comment from some girl, a man with a huge camera began stalking us. "There's a guy following us," I said under my breath to the others.

Fang nodded. "Should we ditch him?" Jade was looking uncomfortable and Fang put a friendly arm around her.

Iggy shook his head. "Then he'll send a whole flotilla of them after us. I say we give him what he wants." Iggy turned around and spotted the stalker, who snapped a few pictures as Fang, Jade, Iggy, and I approached him. "Can we help you?" Iggy asked rather rudely.

The stalker grinned like a wolf. "Mind talking to me for a few minutes, Iggy?" He asked in a nasally voice. His eyes landed on Fang and they lit up. "And Fang from _The Silence,_ too? You keep good company, Iggy."

Iggy nodded, letting his arm drop from my shoulder and he took my hand, squeezing it tightly. I could tell he would rather not be talking to this slightly creepy paparazzi man. "Only a few questions. We're here to enjoy ourselves, not answer your questions."

He nodded and let his camera hang from his neck, taking out a piece of paper and a stubby pencil. He pointed with a grubby finger to Jade, who was still under the arm of Fang. "Who's she, Fang? Girlfriend?"

Fang looked taken aback at the question directed so personally, but Iggy kicked him and nodded. "No, she's my sister," Fang said.

"Smile," Iggy hissed under his breath and Fang forced a smile. I laughed at the effort. It was funny to watch him try to be famous.

"Really? You look the same age," the man said after jotting a few things down.

"She's my sister," Fang growled and the man froze in the middle of writing something, looking scared. He shoved the piece of paper into his pocket along with the paper. He took the camera back up and snapped a picture of Fang and Jade together; Fang looked murderous and Jade looked bored.

When he finally left, Iggy dropped my hand and burst out laughing. "That. Was. Hilarious!" Iggy yelled, drawing disapproving looks from the elder couples around us.

Fang punched Iggy in the arm unnecessarily hard and he yelped, rubbing the spot and shooting Fang a snubbed look. Fang smirked back. "What? You deserved it."

* * *

Fang pulled up into my driveway and stopped the car, leaning back in his seat. He offered to drive Iggy and Jade home, but Iggy had his car and decided to take Jade home. Well, _we_ were actually taking Iggy's car to avoid Iggy being followed, but you get the point.

"I had fun," Fang said, grinning over at me. I smiled slightly back and tried not to think about how hot he was when he smiled like that.

"Yeah… it was lots of fun." I sat awkwardly and tapped my leg. I quickly unbuckled myself and moved to get out of the car, but Fang grabbed my wrist quickly. I looked over to him.

Fang's look was one of unmitigated seriousness. "Max," he said heavily.

"Fang," I replied lightly, sitting back down. His face was close to mine and I couldn't look him in the eyes for very long without blushing.

"What's wrong, Max? You won't look at me." I felt my face heat up even more and I stared out the windshield. From my peripheral vision, I saw Fang lean his face closer to mine, so his lips grazed my cheek when he spoke.

I shook my head. "It's nothing, Fang." I tried to control my face from heating up even more, but Fang being so close to me wasn't helping.

"Your face is all red," he whispered, making me shiver.

I jerked away from him and opened the door to Iggy's dark blue car. "What is wrong with _you_, Fang?" I half yelled and walked quickly to my house, trying to disguise my tomato-red face from Ari, Gazzy and Angel.

* * *

**You know, I was gonna make this chapter a hell of a lot longer. But I feel like making you all happy by updating. Plus, I think this chapter is long enough already.**

**Anyway, because I just **_**know**_** someone is going to ask this, no Max is not mad at Fang. She's just embarrassed, like, majorly.**

**Something else… oh… what was the something else? I don't remem- Oh! The chapter after next is MAJORLY long. I mean like, 12 PAGES on word long. That's long. It's something like… 5,500 words? I'm not sure…**

**But anyway, we're getting into the good parts of this story, though it is more than halfway over now…**

**Um… Oh, yes. I have recently been put on medication for my Tourette Syndrome… It doesn't appear to be working, so I **_**might**_** get put on anti-depressants… Isn't that encouraging? Your author on anti-depressants. I just love the idea.**

**All that beside, I want you to review! I updated EEEAAAARRRLLLLYYY! Like, by a day, but still.**

**REVIEW.**

Oh. If someone wants a special little shout-out next chapter, then he or she should point out the big word I used in that last section. I'll give you a hint… it describes the way Fang says something. XD


	31. Chapter 31

**Hehe. Hehehe. Hello again :) How are all my lovely readers and reviewers? I hope all of you are doing well :)**

**Shadow and I have shout-outs!  
Twitch: For guessing 'unmitigated' correctly, these people get shout-outs! Ai-chan (also known as I Spiked The Ice Cream)!  
Shadow: ObsessiceReader1223…!  
Twitch: CrazyNerdyFangirl!  
Shadow: wings!  
Twitch: FallenSnowAngel5927!  
Shadow: Living on a Wish!  
Twitch: alsin!  
Shadow: Anne Taylor!  
Twitch: Kariky!  
Shadow: Midge1012!  
Twitch: Scarlet Natalia!  
Shadow: TaylorSwiftTwilightFan75!  
Twitch: lexival!  
Shadow: fanfic-fanatic1197!  
Twitch: MeThinks-I-Like-Books!  
Shadow: Randomly Obsessed!  
Twitch: *out of breath* sorry if you reviewed and guessed the word, but I didn't include you… I'm forgetful.  
Shadow: So, Twitch, what's this about me being a jerk? I wasn't really paying attention to your thoughts during your study hall period on Friday, but Ani and Jade brought me up to speed…  
Twitch: *rolls eyes and shoves Far From Perfect in Shadow's face* Just read it. And I don't own Maximum Ride.**

* * *

_Third Person. Funny how this is a first person story, yet I'm doing it more and more in third person… Yay for inconsistency!_

"Hello?" Jade asked as she opened her flip phone. She didn't recognize the number calling her.

"Jade?" A slightly familiar voice asked on the other end. She blushed when she realized who it was.

"Hey," she said softly, smiling and examining herself in the full-size mirror that occupied the back of the door into her room.

"I was wondering… are you busy today?" He asked and Jade blushed even more.

"It's the third day of summer and I have no friends other than you, Xela, Fang, and Max, all of which, except you, are off doing something of deathly importance. Of course I'm not busy."

"Great! You think you could meet me at the Starbucks over by Central Park? I feel like talking to you today."

"I don't have a ride; my mom needed my car for something today." Jade tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

"I could pick you up, if you want. I still have your address on my arm from when I drove you home the other day."

Jade laughed nervously. "I just told you how to get there, not the address. Stalker."

He laughed on the other end and Jade couldn't help but smile at the sound. "Right. That's me, Iggy Haines, stalker of Jade Calloway. I'll be there in ten."

"Alright, see you then. Bye." Jade hung up the phone and turned a scrutinizing look at the mirror. She shook her head violently. Sweat pants and a tank top just _wouldn't _do.

Jade found a pair of black shorts that came to the middle of her thigh and a filmy dark grey tank top with zippers over the sleeves. She put on her black flip-flops and the outfit was complete. She spent the next seven minutes waiting for Iggy to arrive.

When he (finally) arrived, Jade grabbed her phone and purse, jotted a quick note to her parents that she was out with Iggy, and ran outside to Iggy's dark blue convertible.

* * *

"I'll have a grande iced caramel macchiato, please," Jade told the teenage girl, she couldn't have been much older than fifteen, behind the counter at Starbucks.

"And I'll have the same," Iggy finished with a bright smile.

She nodded nervously. "That's n-nine fifty-three," she stuttered, staring at Iggy, who, getting a little annoyed, grinned back and handed the girl a ten. She just stared at it before she realized what to do. She took the ten and handed him his change.

Iggy stood next to Jade as they waited for their drinks. "Do you wanna go for a walk in Central Park? After we get our drinks, I mean."

Jade chuckled at his nervous diction and nodded. "That sounds good, Iggy."

* * *

"Did you ever go to a psychiatrist?" Iggy asked, sipping his drink.

Jade almost laughed at the memory. "Once. Hated it."

"Why?"

"All she asked me was 'Do you want to kill yourself?'." Iggy gave her a skeptical look. She found herself shaking her head and smiling. "I'm serious, Ig. I went once and she took one look at me and asked if I still wanted to live."

Iggy didn't know quite what to say to that. "Well, what were you wearing?"

"A black, long sleeved shirt and black jeans. Black converse and black eye make up. I can't see why she thought I didn't want to live any more…" she finished sarcastically.

Iggy stared ahead of him, thoughtful. "Did you want to? Kill yourself, I mean."

Jade stopped walking and sat on the grass to the side of the path on which they were. "I don't know." Iggy sat next to her and she took a long drink from her coffee. "I felt like dying would be nice, but I knew that… he… would be mad if I took my own life. He was all about my well-being."

Iggy rested his elbows on his knees, which were pulled up to his chest, and sighed. He didn't know what to say to that. He'd never considered taking his own life. "Have you ever talked to anyone about it? Like this?"

Jade shook her head. "No one that I liked ever asked."

Iggy answered quickly. "Jade, that's not good. It isn't good to keep emotions bottled up," he said, eyeing her carefully.

She sighed angrily. "Well it's not like I could _tell_ anyone about it! Mom and Dad were apathetic when he died; they didn't like him at all and didn't care when I stopped talking. They didn't even notice me. Xela cared but she never asked if I was alright, she just kept on talking—"

"Jade, just stop it already!" Iggy yelled, getting a few turned heads from the people surrounding them. "Your parents care about you, okay? It's not their fault if you don't tell them and then expect something from them. Sometimes… sometimes, you have to make the first move, ya know? You have to tell them how you feel if you want them to know what's up. Not everyone can read your mind and know exactly what you're thinking, _all the time._ I'm sure Seth could, but your mom and dad, even though they've known you forever, don't always know what you're thinking. I can't read your mind, Xela can't read your mind, your _mom and dad_ can't read your mind. People outside of your head don't know what's going on in there, so you need to tell us if there's something you think we can do. No one but you knows what you're feeling, and believe me; I would certainly like to know. So just… tell us, alright?"

Jade stared at Iggy in shock. He was breathing heavily after his spiel. Jade's eyes widened as the meat of his speech hit home in her brain. "I… I'm sorry. I've been a total bitch about this… I didn't realize I was… God, I'm sorry, Iggy." She hugged him and he smiled, hugging her back.

"So I was thinking…"

Jade, recovering her good humor, sat back from him. "Really? That's a surprise."

"Oh, ha, ha, very funny Jade. Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to visit, um, Seth's… ah, grave, this Friday. It seems like you need some closure," Iggy said, looking at her nervously.

Jade fiddled with her now empty Starbucks cup and stared at the ground in front of her. "That seems like a good idea. This Friday is the… one-year marker of his… passing. I'll talk to my parents about it."

Iggy grinned and stood, helping her up. "One more thing. I want you to promise me something, alright?"

"Okay…" Jade nodded apprehensively.

"Promise you'll start talking to your parents and Xela again. I'm sure they miss Jade Calloway."

* * *

Jade hopped out of Iggy's car and waved goodbye to him as she entered her house. Her parents were home already; she'd been out longer than she thought.

She approached her mom in the kitchen where she was making dinner. "Mom?" She asked meekly.

Jade's mother looked up in surprise; Jade hadn't started a conversation with her in what seemed like forever. "Yes, sweetie?"

Jade hugged her mom. "I'm sorry… For not talking to you, I mean… I-I thought that you didn't care about me when you didn't ask if I was alright…" Jade buried her face in her mom's shoulder and cried.

Mrs. Calloway patted her daughter's back soothingly. "Jade… oh, it's okay…"

"I miss talking to you, Mom," Jade said, pulling back and wiping her face with her shirt. "I miss telling you about school and my friends and everything…"

"Why don't we get caught up, then? You can help with dinner and you can tell me all about your life…" Jade's mom trailed off with a huge smile.

Jade nodded with a smile and started chopping carrots. "Well, first off, I started hanging out with this boy named Iggy; you might have heard his music on the radio…"

* * *

Jade retreated to her room after hunting down the cordless phone. Her fingers dialed the number of their own accord.

She picked up on the first ring. "Jade? Is everything all right?"

Jade fiddled with her hair and grinned. "Relax, I'm fine, Xela. Just wanted to talk, ya know? Are you busy?"

Xela laughed on the other line. "Jay, I'm never busy. Seriously, though, are you all right?"

It was Jade's turn to chuckle. "I told you, Xel, I'm fine. A lot better than I have been, actually."

"Why?"

"You know Iggy Haines, right? Like, you know who he is?"

"Of course! I mean, who _doesn't_ know who he is?"

"Well… he goes to my school."

On the other end, Xela sighed dramatically, giving the phone feedback. "And this is why I don't want to be homeschooled. Have you met him?"

"Yeah," Jade said, perfectly aware that she was turning as red a cherry.

"Is he nice?"

"He's the entire reason I'm talking to you again."

"He sounds like a miracle worker."

"That's the best description I've heard of him so far. Mom called him her savior, and dad called him his son-in-law. It's awkward talking to them about him…"

Xela burst out laughing. "Are you two _that_ close?"

"I was out with him all day today, if that's any hint. We've been talking a lot lately."

"Does he know about… Seth?"

"Yeah. He knows. We're going to his grave on Friday."

"Like, on a date?" Xela's tone of voice was suspicious.

"I would hardly call visiting a grave a date, Xel," Jade said while holding back laughs.

"Still… I'm thinking that I should come over and help you get ready."

"I'll ask my parents about it… Just make sure Allie doesn't come. She captured Iggy once and I don't want it happening again."

* * *

_First Person. Finally. This part brings it all together! Haha, not really. But you have to have read the earlier parts of the story to know what's going on in this chapter. I honestly thought we'd never get here…_

Angel, Gazzy, Ari, Iggy and I were sitting in the living room, watching television when Jeb came rushing in, looking panicked. I looked up from _American Idol_ with a concerned look. "What's up, Jeb?"

He glanced at the younger kids and started pacing; he ran a hand through his brown-grey hair. "Your mother has… had an accident, and she needs to go to the hospital… she fell and I think she broke her leg… Do you think you and Iggy could hold down the fort while we go to the hospital? I might not be back until tomorrow."

I didn't dismiss the fact that he said _I_, not _we,_ when he was talking about making it back home. I nodded, nonetheless. "Sure thing, Jeb." And he was gone, apparently taking Mom out through the back door.

* * *

_Third Person._

"She doesn't have long, Mr. Ride. We're giving her a week, at the most." The doctor was watching Beth's vitals with care. Jeb stared at his wife with concern.

"She didn't want me to tell our children…" was all Jeb could think of to say. Needless to say, Max was going to be upset when she found out about this. She didn't like being lied to.

"I wish we could do more, Mr. Martinez. It's all up to her strength, now."

_Let's pray that she can fight the cancer off,_ Jeb thought, though he knew it wasn't going to happen.

* * *

_First person! Random switching of perspectives! Yay!_

"Yeah, Fang?" I asked, putting my phone up to my ear. Next to me, Iggy smiled and ruffled my hair, much like an older brother would do.

"You know how we went to see a movie last Sunday?"

I stiffened, not thinking of the movie, but of what happened _after_ the movie. "Yeah," I said, keeping my voice carefully even.

"Do you wanna go see another movie this Friday? I think we should… restart that tradition."

I grinned, catching Iggy's attention. He grinned when he saw my blush. "I think that's a great idea, Fang… I'll talk to you later."

"Alright, bye."

* * *

**Okay, so I **_**worked my ass off**_** to get this chapter up this weekend. I mean, I **_**really**_** worked to get it up. I did all my homework in record time (two hours) and I folded clothes and did a whole bunch of other *cuss word* to get this up this weekend so I could make my readers happy. So be happy.  
Shadow: *throws FFP (Far From Perfect) across the room, shattering Twitch's glass Coca-Cola bottle.* What the hell is this? I try to rape a girl?  
Twitch: As opposed to raping a guy, yes.  
Shadow: What the hell? I kill people, I don't rape them!  
Twitch: Well, you tried to kill her boyfriend.  
Shadow: He tried to take what I wanted.  
Twitch: You really deserve to die, you know that?  
Shadow: *rolls eyes and retreats into Twitch's mind***

**Now that **_**he's**_** gone, I can tell you guys what I need to.**

**I won't be posting the super long 12 page chapter for a little while… I need to make some edits, but it'll be up this week… Honestly, I like posting chapters on the weekends better because you guys have time to read them and review immediately, but I guess my British readers are still on summer break (?), so I guess they'll review right away…**

**Anyway, REVIEW. NOW.**

**REVIEW.**


	32. Chapter 32

Hi everyone!

**Due to Twitch being too pissed to write her author's note, the pleasure has been given to yours truly, Aquapolartop.**

**I know you were expecting Twitch or at least a figment of her imagination, but instead you get me.**

**Feel special.**

**So, um... Twitch usually talks about her life here, right?**

**So in MY life, I have sunburn. WOOT! Titans game. I don't even LIKE football.**

**But that's beside the point.**

**Alright, I don't have much to—**

**SHUT UP IN THERE...**

**...I have voices in my head, too. Twitch and I are just one in the same, I suppose. Except mine are slowly taking control of my mind. At least hers have a schedule worked out.**

**HOLY COW AREN'T YOU EXCITED ABOUT THIS TWELVE PAGE CHAPTER?**

**I am! I've been looking forward to it! Ah!**

**So maybe I should shut up so you all can read it...?**

**Twitch doesn't own Maximum Ride~!**

* * *

Fang was driving me home after our movie day on Friday afternoon; it was early evening by now. I had turned on the radio because Fang wasn't saying much, and I didn't like silence.

"And here's Iggy Haines' new single, _Over Thinking,_" the radio DJ said with over-enthusiasm. Fang moved to turn the radio off, but I caught his hand.

"Don't, Fang. Ella told me I should listen to this song," I said, turning it up a little. Fang sighed and turned his attention back to the road.

The song started with a drumbeat and then some electric guitar. Iggy started singing and Fang visibly cringed as he pulled into my driveway.

"_I was thinking  
Over thinking  
Cause there's just too many scenarios  
To analyze  
Look in my eyes  
Cause you're my dream please come true  
I was thinking  
Over thinking  
About exactly how I'm not exactly him  
I'll break my heart in two  
More times than you could ever do  
Cause you're my dream please come true._

_Cause I think way too much  
On a one track mind  
And you're so out of touch  
Cause I'm so far behind._

_I can't deny this anymore, the facts ignored all done before  
And if there's one in this world,  
You let me know you're not that girl._

_I was sinking  
Lower sinking  
Cause I lost the things I held on to  
They let me think a thought  
A thought that I would know was not  
Of seeing my dream come true  
I was thinking  
Over thinking  
About how far I had let this go  
One more guy/girl cliché  
I know now you're just in the way  
Of me and my dream come true._

_Cause I think way too much  
On a one track mind  
And you're so out of touch  
Cause I'm so far behind  
I'm trying to make sense  
Out of all of this  
While your fading scent  
Just slips through my grip._

_I can't deny this anymore, the facts ignored all done before  
And if there's one in this world,  
You let me know you're not that girl._

_Don't touch the positive with a negative end  
Don't touch the positive with a negative end  
Cause after all of the sparks you're left alone in the dark._

_And while I'm able, I think I'll label  
Experience with you as a mistake  
And while I'm at it, I'll say I've had it,  
Experience with you is a mistake.  
Cause I think way too much_

_On a one track mind  
And you're so out of touch  
Cause I'm so far behind  
I'm trying to make sense  
Out of all of this  
While your fading scent  
Just slips through my grip._

_I can't deny this anymore, the facts ignored all done before  
And if there's one in this world,  
You let me know you're not that girl._

_I was thinking  
Over thinking  
Cause there's just too many scenarios  
To think about  
To figure out  
If you're my dream please come true."_

The song ended with the opening guitar part and the radio DJ came back on.

"And that was Over Thinking from Iggy Haines. Now, I don't trust the source, but I've been hearing rumors that his new single is about one of his ex-girlfriends. How many of us have felt that way about our girls, people? That was some pretty mean stuff at the end of tha-" Fang angrily smashed the power button to the radio and unbuckled himself, turning to me. He clenched his fists and took a few deep breaths.

"Max, don't listen to anything that son of a bitch puts in any of his songs, okay?" I sighed.

Yeah, the song _did_ upset me a little, but Iggy had every right to be upset with me.

"Fang, calm down. It was never a good relationship in the first place. Yeah, I got hurt and the song was a little mean, but he has every right to think that 'experience with me is a mistake,'" I quoted the song. I met Fang's black eyes and he surprised me with one of his cute grins, though I could tell it was forced.

"As long as you're happy. I still don't like him, though. And please tell me you hated the song as much as I did?" He laughed and, boom, there goes Fang's bad mood! Ugh. He was being moody again. Wasn't he seething just a few seconds ago?

"I told you the other day, Fang; I don't like his stuff any more. Even if it _wasn't_ saying bad stuff about me, I still wouldn't like the song." It was true, the Iggy posters had been thrown away, the autographed 'With all my love, Iggy Haines' CDs had been sold to over obsessive fan girls, and the jewelry; I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I swore never to wear it again.

"And you like our stuff best now, right?" He teased, opening his door; I did the same.

"Of course, Fang. All my walls are decorated with _your_ face now." He froze and turned to me. If I didn't know better, I'd say his expression was hopeful.

"Really?" He asked quietly. I grinned.

"'Course not, Fang! Don't you know that sarcasm is my native language?" He rolled his eyes. I was surprising myself. I wasn't usually this… un-awkward around Fang. Especially since I liked him.

"Of course I did, Max." He kept a straight face.

"Why'd you get out of your car? It's not like I can't walk to my own door from the driveway." I tried hard not to blush.

"I wanted to walk you up to your door. Can't a best friend do that?" He glanced at the front windows almost anxiously.

"Yeah, but you make it look like we were on a date," I complained. Fang just grinned at me. There was a lot of grinning going on with him lately. He leaned on a column supporting my front porch.

"Bye, Max," he said as I opened the storm door.

"I'll see you later," I hugged him quickly and for once, he hugged me back. With no warning, Fang pecked me on the lips and I felt my face heat up. I pulled away from him and waved goodbye, rushing inside and grinning as I walked up the stairs, passing Iggy's room on the way. He was gathering his things into a few boxes and suitcases. I stopped in his doorframe.

"What're you doing, Ig?" I asked. My blush had faded by then.

"Come here, Max. Sit down." He sounded deathly serious. I hesitated, unsure of his intentions. "Relax. We broke up, I just need to tell you a couple things." I obliged cautiously and sat on the edge of his stripped down bed.

"What do you need to tell me? And why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like it?" Iggy sighed and sat on the floor in front of me.

"While you and Fang were out, Jeb and I were talking… you know that your mom di-doesn't know that we broke up, right?" I didn't question his stutter.

"Yeah. Because you needed the press to think we were still together, and Mom would tell them, right?" Iggy looked at his hands.

"Tha-that's not exactly it."

"What do you mean?"

"There's not really an easy way to say this… Your mom had, uh, I mean _has_ lung cancer. Well, I'll just say it. She, er, passed away while you and Fang were on your da- I mean at the movies. She wan—"

"What the hell are you talking about, Iggy?" I asked incredulously, "My mom's as healthy as a horse! She-she can't be dead! She was going to the hospital for a broken finger, not lung cancer!" Tears started before I could stop them and Iggy watched, helpless, as I slowly broke down.

I fell off the bed and hugged him, crying onto his white t-shirt.

"Max, she wanted you to be happy and have a good future… so she set us up; tried to get us together. That's why we couldn't tell her when we broke up." I was too tired to be surprised at this, "I'm so sorry, Max." He stroked my hair and gently rocked me back and forth. After Iggy had comforted me for roughly ten minutes, I could feel his phone vibrate in his back pocket. He pulled it out after I moved away from him; I was leaning against his bed now. His face softened as he read the text.

"Jade?" I knew that look. Iggy's pale face flushed bright red.

"Yeah…"

"What's going on with you two?" I asked between sniffles.

"Um, she and I are going to visit her boyfriend's um… grave. He was—"

"Killed in a mugging last year. Everyone knows about that. They used to hang out with me and Fang before it happened."

"I'm picking her up. Do you mind if I leave? I don't want to be rude, but this is really important to her," I nodded and stood, concentrating on Iggy so I could forget that my mom was dead.

"Have fun, Ig." I said, walking to his door. "And what's with the boxes?"

"I'm moving out. Jeb decided it, really. He's all for- never mind. I'll be staying in town, just not here. I'll see you around?" He gave me a sad smile and I tried to smile back, but that was a little hard, considering my circumstances.

"Bye."

* * *

_Third Person. Yeah yeah. I know you want more Fax. Deal with it._

Iggy nervously got out of his convertible that had the top up and stepped into the hot June evening. He ran his hands over his white t-shirt that still had Max's tears on it and smoothed his hair, slinging his brown leather jacket over his arm. He walked to the door and was about to knock, but it swung open, revealing a woman that looked strikingly like Jade. She had the same hair, but who he assumed was the father had the same eyes as Jade. The woman smiled warmly at Iggy, while the man looked him over with appraising eyes.

"Hello, Mrs. Callaway, my name is Iggy," he said, putting his hand out for the woman to shake, she ignored it and enveloped him in a hug.

"It is _so_ nice to meet you, Iggy. Ever since she started 'chilling' with you, as she put it, Jade has been so much happier. I haven't seen her like this in over a year. We are so happy that you met our daughter." Mrs. Callaway stepped away, letting her husband step forward and shake Iggy's hand.

"Thank you, Iggy," he said, giving Iggy's hand a firm shake. He stepped away as Iggy heard a female voice, not Jade, yell down the stairs that were to his left.

"Is he here, yet, Other Mother?" Iggy chuckled.

"Yes, Xela. He's right here!" Mrs. Callaway yelled over her shoulder and Iggy heard several crashes and then a curse that won't be repeated here. Jade came down, followed by a red haired girl. Jade was wearing a black, way too big scoop-necked t-shirt that had a wolf on it with dark wash skinny jeans and ankle boots. They were both grinning from ear to ear and Iggy smiled back at Jade. She blushed and sat on the couch, next to her father. The red haired girl eyed him with excitement.

"You're Iggy Haines?" She asked, looking him over.

"Yes, and you must be Xela. It's a pleasure to meet Jade's best friend," he said with a smile and Xela blushed.

"Oh, stop with the flattery, Iggy. I wanna get this whole 'let's meet Iggy' thing over with and leave." Iggy laughed at Jade's usual attitude and sat across the room in a recliner. Mr. Calloway gave him another critical look, but then grinned.

"I can already tell you'll be good for Jade. Just have her back at a reasonable time and don't do anything you'll regret. And have fun." They left together and climbed into his car.

"Sorry about them," Jade said as she buckled her seatbelt. Her feet were awkwardly on their sides because of her high heels. He laughed and unclipped the roof to the car.

"It's fine. You want the top down?" He asked, motioning to the button that activated the movement of the roof. She nodded eagerly and pulled a pair of sunglasses out of her brown canvas purse, a smile tugging at her mouth. "You're gonna have to tell me how to get there, I still don't know my way around this place."

"Oh, that's fine. I, uh, know where it is." She spoke quietly and tapped her leg. He smiled over at her.

"I'm glad you wanted me to come, Jade."

"I'm glad I invited you. I never would've gone if you hadn't convinced me to." He started the car and backed out of the driveway, reluctantly looking away from Jade to watch where he was going.

* * *

"Take a left here," Jade shouted over the wind to Iggy. She was getting so close to _his_ grave. She couldn't believe she'd let Iggy convince her to do this. She knew she was going to break down when she saw his headstone. At least she had Iggy there with her.

The only reason she was bringing Iggy was to make sure Seth's spirit, so to speak, was okay with Iggy. It was important that Seth be okay with Iggy and that they might start dating. She figured a year was a long enough mourning time for the loss of a boyfriend; she might just move on to Iggy. They reached the cemetery and Jade climbed out of Iggy's convertible, not opening the door, and fixed her hair. She led Iggy to Seth's grave and Iggy carefully placed the roses he had bought on her behalf on the grave. She smiled at his sweetness. He'd never even met Seth, yet here he was with her at his grave, mourning along with her. She knew she'd never find someone to rival Seth's caring nature, but Iggy was close. Very close.

Jade felt memories of Seth coming on, how she hated him at first, but then she was forced into being tutored by him and ended up falling in love for the first time. The first time they kissed, in eighth grade, and they'd been halfway going out for almost a year. Then he made it official in freshman year. His little notes and flowers on every date night. How much he loved her and hanging out with her. He didn't even mind Xela. God, she missed him so much.

She felt tears from the past year build up in her eyes and for the first time in the three years since she met Seth, Jade cried. She fell to her knees, completely forgetting that Iggy was there and sobbed, clutching the headstone. She felt a comforting hand on her back; who was that? The hand turned into an arm that was wrapped around her shoulders. She meant to turn away from the arm, wanting to be alone with her grief, but she recognized the smell of salt and Axe on the shirt that was covering the arm, which led to a chest that she cried into now. She heard comforting things being whispered to her, but she kept on crying. The hand was rubbing her back soothingly and she remembered to whom it belonged. Iggy Haines, the boy she had sworn to always hate when she heard his first song but had ended up falling in love with. It felt good to admit that she was in love again. So… relieving to admit that she could move on from Seth and find someone else.

But the tears kept coming, Jade couldn't make them stop and neither could Iggy. Jade just let them come and snuggled into Iggy's chest, relaxing when his familiar scent reached her nose. They were sitting now, Jade sitting in Iggy's lap with her legs stretched over his and his arms around her.

The tears finally stopped over an hour later. It had been light when they had reached the cemetery; it was pitch black now. Jade closed her eyes and sighed, resting her head above Iggy's heart and listening to the steady beating.

"Thank you," she mumbled, moving closer to him.

"It's no problem, Jade," he replied, hugging her tightly. They sat like that for a while until Jade shivered violently. She stayed close to Iggy; he was warm. He squirmed and got into a more comfortable position and shrugged out of his leather jacket, handing it to her. She took it and put it up to her nose, smiling inwardly at the smell and blushing when he caught her.

"We should get going," he whispered, closing his eyes and resting his head on top of hers.

"It _is_ kind of cold out here," she admitted. Iggy scooped her up bridal style and started carrying her, draping his jacket over her like a blanket. She squirmed when she almost fell because his foot hit a knobby root from a nearby oak tree.

"Sorry," he said, hugging her back to him.

"Put me down, Iggy. I don't trust you to carry me." She clutched his jacket as he carefully set her on the ground, standing upright. She put the jacket on and pushed up the sleeves, only to have them fall back down. "Your jacket is too big, Iggy."

"Well, that's why it's for a_ guy_, Jade." She just snickered and walked next to him, tempted to take his hand.

"There's your car," she said, pointing to his blue convertible.

"Yeah, do you wanna stop for dinner or something? It's only 7:30." She wrapped her arms around herself and nodded.

"I guess I'm a little hungry. Dinner would be nice."

"What time do your parents want you home?" He asked, turning on the car and pulling out of the parking lot.

"I don't know… Dad said 'a reasonable time'. With…"

"Seth," he supplied and Jade nodded.

"It was always around ten or ten thirty. I guess that would be a reasonable time." She pulled Iggy's jacket around her tighter and stared at him. She could do that forever if she wanted…

"Let's shoot for nine thirty, then. I want your parents to like me," he said, stopping at a red light and turning to grin at her. She smiled shyly back, something she hadn't done for a long time. It felt odd to smile, but it made Iggy so happy that he missed the light turning green. An impatient driver behind them brought him back to reality and he pulled forward.

"Iggy, they already _love_ you. They wouldn't care if you had a third eye or a foot growing out of your back, as long as I was happy," she replied after her thoughts about Iggy. "And where are we going for dinner? I'm fine with McDonalds or something if you're short on money."

Iggy laughed, glancing at her from the corner of his eyes. "_Me?_ Short on money? I think someone forgot who she's with." Jade rolled her eyes at his antics and smiled again.

"I told you once a while ago; I always forget that you're famous."

"And I like that you don't treat me like I am. It's a nice break from all the screaming fan girls."

"It's not a problem, Ig." Jade looked around her and recognized the higher end of Manhattan. "Really, where _are_ we going?"

"It's a surprise, Jay. You have to be patient."

She smirked. "'Jay'? Only Xela calls me that."

"So?"

"I don't know, just saying. Making a point, you know?" He laughed and pulled into the valet of one of the fancier restaurants in town. Jade eyed the place carefully.

"We're here, but don't get out of the car yet, I wanna tell you something." His sudden serious expression caught her attention, though she sensed that he was only joking, trying to make her nervous. He motioned for the valet parking people to wait a minute.

"What's that?" She asked, mocking his serious tone.

"This is something I never told Max about, so consider yourself lucky to know about it, okay? Not even the press know about it, and they follow me _everywhere._ I'm sure there's one tailing us right now, so don't do anything you wouldn't want the whole world to know about, 'kay?"

Jade grinned mischievously. "I smell a scandal, don't I? What is this secret that no one knows about?"

"Well… Fang knows about it, but, uh… I like to blow things up. Like bombs and stuff… That's not a complete deal breaker for your parents, is it?" He looked at her nervously with a cute smile. She laughed out loud, causing people to look at her strangely.

"That's awesome, Iggy! I said earlier, my parents wouldn't care if you had a third eye; an obsession with explosions is fine." Iggy pretend sighed.

"Good, I was really worried about that one," he joked, opening his door for the valet. One opened Jade's door for her and she climbed out, tottering in her high heels because of the steep incline they were on.

* * *

"Iggy, this is place is fancy, I feel underdressed," Jade whispered to Iggy as they waited to speak with the host of the restaurant. He chuckled to himself and elbowed her.

"How do you think _I_ feel?" He asked, motioning to his plain white, v-neck t-shirt and dark washed jeans with black and white vans. She still had his jacket on, and Iggy had to say, it looked much better on her than it did on him.

"You're the one that decided to come here, pretty boy." She'd taken to calling him that. It was a term of endearment of sorts. He imagined that she'd called Seth something like that.

"Touché," he said, stepping to the host's desk. He kept his eyes on a piece of paper.

"Welcome to Maggiano's, do you have reservations?"

"Uh, yeah, two for Haines?" The host jerked his head up and examined Iggy. He flushed bright red.

"Oh, Mr. Haines, i-it's s-so good to h-have you with u-us tod-day. I'll l-lead y-you to y-your table," he stammered, grabbing two menus and walking into the dining area. Iggy chuckled to himself and took Jade's hand, pulling her along. Her face flushed bright red and she came up next to him, not letting go of his hand.

"You got us reservations?" She asked, glancing around at all the people eyeing them oddly. The host turned to face them at a booth, motioning for them to sit. Iggy and Jade slid into opposite sides of the booth and the host walked away nervously.

"It was your parents' idea, really. They figured out my phone number, I don't know how, and they called me, saying I should, 'Take Jade out to dinner. It'll be good for her and we don't want to feed her.'" Iggy laughed at the memory, he'd been in the middle of watching Fang's band practice when his phone went off.

Jade muttered something to herself that sounded oddly like 'Stupid parents,' but he dismissed it as a waitress came up to them, smiling and bouncy. She spoke with a fake Italian accent.

"_Bonjourno,_ my name is Maria and I'll be your waitress tonight. What can I get you to- Oh, my gosh! I am such a big fan of your music! You're Iggy Haines, right? The manager said you were coming in tonight, but I didn't think you'd get seated at one of _my_ tables! Oh, this is so exciting!" Iggy was used to getting this reaction from people he met, but obviously, Jade was not. She narrowed her eyes at the waitress.

"Just take our order, _Maria_," she growled and the waitress seemed to notice Jade for the first time.

"Oh, are you Max? You don't look like the pictures," she trailed off and looked confused. Iggy forgot that the press _still_ didn't know they were broken up, even though it had happened two months ago.

"No, I'm not _Max_," Jade spat the name and continued to glare at the waitress. "Now just take our order before I strangle you." Iggy kicked her under the table and she turned her glare to him. He smiled apologetically at the waitress.

"Max and I are broken up," he said simply. She looked even more confused now.

"That's not what the magazines said… there were pictures…"

"Photoshop," he supplied, playing with his menu. He glanced up at her and smiled his 'pop star' smile. "Could you please take our orders now? I'm afraid my friend is getting a bit impatient."

"Oh, yes, of course. Uh, what can I get you to drink?" Iggy nodded to Jade.

"Root beer," she said in a monotone.

"Make that two," Iggy added, smiling at the waitress. She left the table in a hurry and Jade turned her glare back on Iggy. He squirmed in his seat, trying to avoid her gaze.

"Why did that take so long, pretty boy?"

"Sorry, Jade. I was trying to get her to leave, but it wasn't working."

"Obviously, you were too busy flashing her your big smiles to remember that you were here with someone."

"Are you accusing me of flirting?" He asked with a wide smile. She narrowed her eyes.

"You're smart, pretty boy."

"You think _that_ was me flirting? I thought you knew me better than that, Jay."

"What do you mean?"

"If you thought that was me flirting, what do you call this?" He motioned between them and to the restaurant in which they were sitting. Jade stared at him, disbelief in her eyes that she thought he couldn't see.

"A friendly outing?" She guessed, sitting on her hands. Her nervous smile that he'd just started seeing tonight graced her features again.

"Jay, _this_ is me flirting," he leaned closer to her across the table; their faces were mere inches apart. "_That_ was something I do to get people to leave me alone." He let his lips brush hers quickly, not quite a kiss, and he sat up again. Jade was rubbing her cheeks, trying to hide the blush that had snuck up her neck and was now blossoming in her cheeks.

"I hate you," she mumbled, not meeting his eyes.

"Whatever."

* * *

Iggy was driving Jade home now, it was 9:15 when they left; they reached her house at 9:30. He opened his door and ran over to her side, opening her door as well and helping her out of his car. She smiled and held his hand as they walked to her front porch.

"Thanks for taking me, Ig," she mumbled when they reached her front door.

"You're very welcome, Jay. I was happy to come."

"My parents are probably watching us by now. Xela too… I'm going to get pounced on when I go inside," she rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. He chuckled and took her other hand, intertwining their fingers; he pushed up the sleeves to his jacket that she was still wearing.

"I'd come with you, but I don't think that would go over well with your dad."

"Probably not," she agreed, pulling back her head to look at him.

"I'm moving out of Max's house tomorrow, do you wanna help?" He asked, resting his forehead on hers.

"I'll ask my mom, but I'm sure she'll be okay with it. I'll text you later when I ask, okay?" She started to pull away from him, but he wasn't ready to let her go yet. He held on to her and brought their faces close for the second time that day.

He kissed her hesitantly, making sure it was okay with her. When she responded by letting go of his hands and wrapping them around his neck, he kept going. He put one hand on the small of her back, holding her to him and the other on the back of her neck, combing through her hair slowly.

It wasn't until Iggy had made in an open-mouthed kiss that the porch light flickered and he pulled away an inch, opening his eyes. They were met with Jade's grinning face and her breath hitting his face. He grinned slowly back at her and continued to comb his fingers through her long black hair. She leaned into his touch, closing her eyes.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she breathed, pulling away from him and opening her door. He smiled and ran his hand down her cheek.

"I can't wait," he said, stepping off her front porch step and going back to his car.

As he pulled out of Jade's driveway, he couldn't help but grin to himself.

* * *

_First Person~ Max ~ Some Fax now, kay?_

The first thing that hit me the next morning was that my mom was dead and she'd set me up with a celebrity. I closed my eyes and wished it would all go away. When I opened my eyes, the thought was still there.

I started crying and my eyes found a picture of me and Fang together. Ella had taken it when he picked me up from work one day.

Fang would make this all better; he always did.

* * *

_Third Person~ Fang_

"_Not so long ago I knew how to laugh,  
You taught me how to love and how to dance,  
When things went wrong, you always had a song,  
That always seemed to make things right._

_It was the sound of you and I,  
The sound of you and I." _Fang was sitting at his piano when he heard his door creak open. He continued singing.

"_Maybe someday soon I'll become a man,  
And put off childish things and take your hand.  
With yours in mine,  
I think I'll be alright,  
I think I'll make it through the night._ He finished the song with a final chord and stared at the keys. He really couldn't get Max out of his head.

When I hear the sound of you and I,  
The sound of you and I.

When you're away,  
You think it'd be okay  
To sing this song just one more time.

I love the sound of you and I,  
The sound of you and I,  
The sound of you and I,  
The sound of you and I

I love the sound of you and I."

"What'd you think?" he asked the mystery person behind him.

"I liked it." He was surprised to hear Max speak up behind him.

"Thanks, Max," he said quietly. He turned around to face her. "What's up?" He couldn't help but be surprised at what she was wearing. Grey sweats and a tank top with her zip up green jacket over it; her pajamas. His eyes traveled up to her face and was horrified to see fresh tear tracks on it. Her eyes were puffy and red and she kept wiping her nose on the hem of her shirt, revealing some of her flat, tan stomach every time.

"Is it a new song?" She asked; he could hear her strain to keep her voice even, but it cracked at the end.

"Max, what's wrong?" He asked gently, getting up and putting a hand on her shoulder. She just shook her head and wouldn't look at him. He could tell she was forcing herself not to cry. "You can cry, you know. I _did_ see you hurl a couple times," he laughed nervously and Max moved away from him, sitting against a wall. She put her head in her hands; she was crying now, he could hear her muffled sobs and sniffles. He sat next to her and rubbed the spot on her back she liked, right in between her shoulder blades. She moved further from the wall so he wouldn't smash his hand.

"Did you know about my mom, too?" She asked eventually.

"Know what about her?"

"That she was _dying?_" she asked bitterly. He froze. Dying?

"Max, I'm so sorry." He continued rubbing her back, but she squirmed away from him.

"So you _did_ know," she accused, attempting to glare at him, but it was ruined by the tears that were streaming down her face.

"Max, I swear I didn't. Really." She looked at him carefully and apparently found truth in his expression because she moved closer to him and cried onto his shoulder. He rubbed the same spot on her back and kissed her hair.

"She's dead, Fang," she mumbled. "_Dead._" He wrapped his arms around her and held her to him tightly. She wiped her nose on his shirt and he laid his cheek on top of her head, closing his eyes and breathing in her scent.

"Shh… Max," he whispered, rocking her back and forth. She whimpered and hugged his stomach, knocking the breath out of him, but he smiled anyway.

Max was asleep in the next twenty minutes from his rocking and he very carefully picked her up and carried her up the ladder to his bed; laying her down and pulling the covers up to her chin. He kissed her forehead and started to climb back down from his bed, but he heard her whimper again.

"Stay, please," she mumbled, opening her eyes a sliver and meeting his. He turned back to her and climbed next to her, settling down so he could see her. "Thank you, Fang," she finished sleepily. She nuzzled his neck with her face and closed her eyes. Fang draped an arm over her stomach; she was asleep in a matter of seconds.

Fang closed his own eyes and rested his chin on top of Max's head. He, too, fell asleep quickly.

* * *

**WASN'T IT FANTASTIC?**

**Actually, I haven't read it yet, but I bet it's amazing.**

**While I'm here, I may as well do some advertising.**

**If you've already read my story, you know that I haven't posted in a REALLY long time. **

**IM SORRY. DONT HATE ME.**

**I made a schedule. Now I have time to write :D**

**So Chapter Five is written and will be posted next Monday if my computer is done being a tard.**

**But, yeah. **

**Anyways, enough of that ;P**

**Iggy and Max will spontaneously fall in love if you don't review.**

**You better do it, man...**

**Oh, and, here:**

**http:/www. youtube. Com /watch? v=Wtfx6O4bu3U I'm not sure what it is, it was just on my copy and paste (minus the spaces!). Go find out.**

**You know... after you...**

**REVIEW**


	33. Chapter 33

**I feel the need to tell everyone where I was last author's note… As Aquapolartop said, I **_**was**_** too pissed off to write an author's note. My imaginary psychiatrist says that I was suffering from Pissed At Everyone Syndrome, or simply PAE Syndrome. He says that it's become all too common in angsty teenagers, one of which I am quickly becoming.**

**Anyway, I think we get a break from Shadow this chapter… Ani the misanthrope and Jade the misandrist are hating on him right now. Hehe, I like to use big words to confuse you guys :D If you don't know what a 'misanthrope' or a 'misandrist' is, then go look it up…**

**Anyway, I don't own Maximum Ride.**

* * *

_Third Person_

"Fang?" Fang's mother asked, opening the door to his room. "Have you seen Ma- Fang?" She looked around the room in confusion, and then checked her watch again. It _did_ say it was eleven A.M, right? Fang was always up by eleven.

Her eyes landed on Fang's bed, where she saw her son peering down at her with heavily lidded eyes. His hair was messy and there was someone sleeping next to him.

Fang propped himself up on his elbow over who his mother assumed to be Max. "What?" He asked sleepily.

She grinned at him and shook her head. "Nothing, Fang. Go back to sleep," she whispered, so as not to wake Max, and crept out of the room, silently shutting the door.

Fang lied back down and watched as Max moved closer to him again. He smiled and kissed her forehead before falling back asleep.

* * *

_First Person!_

"Max," someone whispered and I groaned, trying to fall back asleep. "Max," the voice said again and I moved closer to it, enjoying the warmth coming from it. "Max, come on, wake up."

My curiosity won and I opened my eyes; I wanted to know who wanted me to wake up so badly. When my eyes came into focus again, Fang was looking back at me, a slight smile written on his face.

"How are you feeling?" He asked and I groaned, tears springing up in my eyes. I leaned my head on his chest, crying again. "I'll take that as a 'not very well'." Fang chuckled and sat up, pulling me with him. He rubbed my back with his fingertips and I sniffled.

"I need to stop being such a wimp… Jade went through something ten times worse than this and she _never_ cries." However, I made no move to pull away from him.

Fang shushed me. "Max… you're not Jade. Cry as much as you feel you have to." I nodded into his chest and let myself cry.

A while later, I pulled back from him and glanced at the clock across the room. "Fang," I said, my voice cracking. "It's noon… Iggy's moving out today and I think we should go over and help."

Fang nodded and jumped off the side of his bed, landing with a thud. I, on the other hand, decided to be more civilized and I climbed down the ladder. I straightened my shirt (it was twisted around my torso) and I walked with Fang out of his house and across the street.

Fang was about to go up to Iggy and ask what we could do to help, but I grabbed his elbow and pulled him back, next to me. "Stop," I hissed, eyeing Iggy carefully. He was walking up to Jade with a small smile. "Can't you see that he wants to talk to her?"

"Well I'm sure they could talk later—"

"No, Fang. Just watch. This is important." I watched the two talking with something close to a smile. I knew my attempt failed when Fang gave me a one-armed hug.

Damn. I needed to be stronger than this. Mom was in a better place, now. Missing her _wasn't_ going to bring her back. I needed to get over this and be strong like Jade. But it was so hard… being strong seemed impossible… Fang tightened his hold on me, squishing me into him and I felt a little better. Of course, his hand brushing my shoulder was burning my skin and I could feel myself blushing. I don't think Fang noticed, though, because he just looked over at me and smiled. Maybe Fang could help me be strong.

Iggy and Jade were now walking hand in hand towards us, and Fang dropped his arm from my shoulders so he could bump fists with Iggy and Jade. I stood there, awkwardly staring into space and Jade let go of Iggy's hand to come to me.

"Hi," she said quietly and I looked up, nodding my response. "I heard about your mom… You can call me whenever or we could hang out and talk anytime, alright?"

"Thanks, Jade… I'll probably take you up on that offer soon… I'm sure I'll be getting lonely." I looked up to see that Iggy and Fang were talking out of our hearing range, so I turned a scheming face to Jade. "What's up with you and Iggy? I saw you two walking over here."

Jade blushed and I tried to grin cockily; though I'm sure it came out bad. "He and I… we're…"

"Together?" I supplied and Jade nodded, grinning all out for the first time in a long time. "I'm glad," I said, watching the boys quietly. Gazzy and Ari were with Iggy and Fang now, and it looked like they were teasing him, punching his arms and the like. Fang looked back at us and grinned when he caught my eye, making me blush and turn back to Jade.

"You need to get better at hiding that blush, Max," Jade said, raising an eyebrow.

"What do you mean, Jade? My face is red because I've been crying…" I trailed off as it hit me again. My mother was _dead_, and she never even told me she had cancer. What kind of mother does that?

"Fang is going to catch on that you like him if you blush every time he smiles at you," Jade stated, though it didn't register in my mind.

"I can't believe she did that…" I mumbled, causing Jade to give me an odd look.

"Who did what?"

"My… mom… She didn't tell me she was… dying." My voice broke on the last word and I started silently crying again.

I saw Jade staring at me as I wiped the tears from my face with the back of my hand. "I think you should stay the night at Fang's house tonight."

I looked up at her. "Why?"

Jade gave me a sly look. "Iggy's going to announce that you and he broke up today… There are going to be _loads_ of paparazzi at the apartment complex into which he's moving." That's Jade. Always grammatically correct, even when she was talking. "They don't know that Fang lives across the street from you, so you could be safe from reporters there." I was too drained to care that she probably had other ideas as to why I should stay at his house for today.

"That sounds nice, actually…" I jogged up to Fang and his group, catching the tail end of their conversation.

"…don't know how to tell her I lo—"

"Hiya, Max!" Gazzy cut Fang off quickly and all four turned to face me.

"Oh, hi, Max," Fang said, turning his back to me, but I thought that I saw a blush on his face.

"Iggy, you're telling the press that we broke up today?" I asked and Iggy nodded. "Fang… do you think I could stay at your house tonight…?"

Fang turned back to me suddenly. "That'd be great."

* * *

_Third Person- Fang. A few hours later._

"Hey, Max. Come here," Fang said from the kitchen. His parents were out tonight, leaving Fang and Max to fend for themselves for dinner. He had spent the last hour and a half making dinner for himself and Max. It consisted of spaghetti and meatballs, along with some lemonade from this afternoon. Fang almost dimmed the lights and made it a 'romantic candle-lit dinner for two', but he didn't want Max to freak out.

Max had been busy watching television in the living room, but Fang was keeping a close eye on her to make sure that she didn't break down. He didn't like seeing his Max so broken and fragile. He felt like if he touched her, she would crumble to pieces.

She slouched into the kitchen and wiped stray tears from her face, leaning against the counter next to Fang. "Is dinner ready?" She asked weakly and Fang's heart broke again. All he wanted to do was make her laugh, make her smile… anything but those sad eyes. They say happiness is contagious… Fang decided he would do his best to make her happy tonight. That meant not holding back all his smiles.

"Yeah," he said, staring at her. Max's face wasn't the right color; normally, it was light pink/white and full of life, but now, she looked dead. Her skin was pale and clammy, and she was wearing a hoodie that Fang had leant her, the sleeves pulled all the way down, past her hands. She'd changed into some baggy jeans and a pair of flip flops. She dragged her feet when she walked and constantly had an arm around her own stomach. It really killed Fang to see her like this.

"It smells good," she said, smiling a little at him, obviously trying to make him think she was happy. She shuffled to the bowl of spaghetti noodles and served herself some, Fang watching all the time. "Are you coming to get some or not? I can't eat all of this on my own, you know," she said cynically, regaining some of her old sarcasm.

Fang smiled at her back and started for the spaghetti noodles, doing as Max said. "Are you doing better, Max?" Fang asked, touching her back lightly as he came up behind her.

She nodded, spooning sauce onto her spaghetti and grabbing a fork. "I think I just need to keep my mind off it."

Fang sat on the couch in the living room, turning off the television. He looked up at Max and she sat next to him, her shoulder rubbing his own. "Then I'll keep your mind off of it… what do you want to talk about?"

Max shoveled the spaghetti in her mouth and shrugged. "This spaghetti is really good, Fang."

Fang leaned back on the couch and stared at the ceiling, trying to think of something to ask Max. "Hey Max, what's the quadratic formula?"

Max looked over at him in confusion and shook her head. "Eh… I don't know. B squared minus 4AC?"

Fang grinned over at her. "No, that's the discriminant, Max. The quadratic formula is the square root of negative b squared minus 4ac all over 2a."

Max looked over and saw him grinning at her and a small, but very real, smile crossed her features. "How am I supposed to remember that?"

"You're just supposed to, Max. Um… next question. So… have you made plans for the zombie apocalypse yet?"

"Not yet, actually. I really need to get on that."

Fang grinned again despite himself and finished off his spaghetti, he was a quick eater. "Know what you're planning to be for All Saints Day Eve?"

Max eyed him carefully. "Fang, it's May."

"Still," he said, nodding for her to go on.

"I'll be a bottle of poison," she said, quite seriously, and Fang chuckled.

"Should I grow a mustache?"

Max laughed, causing Fang to grin back at her. "Should I?" Fang eyed her carefully. "Exactly."

"Are you capable of a British accent?" Fang asked in a British accent.

Once again, Max laughed and Fang laughed with her. "Not at all," she said between giggles. She stopped laughing after a while and sighed, staring at Fang. He stared back at her. "Thanks," she said and kissed his cheek quickly.

Fang looked at her closely. The sparkle that he loved was back in her eye and her mouth was turned up in a smile. Fang grinned back at her, but she didn't break eye contact this time, making him so happy. "It's no problem, Max. I'm glad to see that you can still laugh."

Max nodded and hugged him closely. "I'm glad you're my best friend," she said from where her head was buried in his chest.

He smiled and kissed her hair. "Me too, Max."

* * *

**IT'S DONE! JOEY, I POSTED IT!**

**Alright, so I seriously wrote this chapter in like… one day. Like the last one. Be happy.**

**And! Go check out Auquapolartop's profile! Go to http:/ www . fanfiction . n e t/ ~aquapolartop (minus spaces) She's posting a new fanfiction for Maximum Ride soon! Yeah!**

**Speaking of new fanfictions... be on the lookout for my new fic called _Vienna_. You'll like it... probably :D**

**Um… Something I've noticed going on… Why do teenagers use 'f***ing' to describe everything? I heard someone say 'Is it really that hard to shut the f***ing locker?' Honestly, I didn't know a locker could **_**do**_** that. Be sure to thank me in your review giving you that wonderful mental image.**

**Speaking of reviews, I want some on this chapter. So…**

**REVIEW.**


	34. Chapter 34

**Bleh. Here's your next chapter… Bleh. I don't feel good, if you can't tell. I ate too much at my friend Millie's birthday party. That's why I posted last chapter early… I was at her party all Friday and most of Saturday, when I usually update…**

**You better review this chapter. I spent a lot of thinking on this chapter. I mean… tons. Tons and tons and tons of thinking. I'm an angsty person, so writing a gushy chapter like this one is… interesting.**

**I don't own Maximum Ride.**

* * *

_Third Person… Yet again! I don't like first person… too… limited._

Max was sleeping next to Fang when he opened his eyes at nine o'clock on Sunday morning. He smiled over at her, even though she couldn't see it.

Fang Capelli was in love with Maximum Ride and there was nothing he could do about it. He should tell her… but that seemed impossible. Everything seemed impossible at this point, and it made him angry. He was so in love that it made him mad. He couldn't tell her; that would risk rejection. He couldn't _not_ tell her; living with this was impossible enough already. Fang sighed angrily into Max's hair. This was impossible.

Max smiled in her sleep and moved closer to him. Fang draped an arm around her waist and tugged her even closer. Her face was buried in his bare chest, now.

The only thing Fang didn't understand about Max was why she wouldn't meet his eyes for longer than a few seconds. She would always make eye contact for about five seconds, and then she would quickly look away, hiding her face from him. It was like she was embarrassed. He had voiced his concern to Iggy, Gazzy, and Ari. They'd all laughed and said 'She likes you.' Fang found that hard to believe. Max had known him since they were in kindergarten, and she'd never expressed more than sisterly feelings for Fang. What would make her like him now?

Fang watched as Max slowly awoke, blinking sleepily as she pushed back from him, her hands flat on his shirtless torso. He smirked and un-wrapped his arm from around her waist. She quickly pulled her hands away from him when she realized where they were. She sat up, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Mornin'," she said groggily.

Fang sat up and leaned against the wall his bed was against and let his eyes droop. "Yeah, yeah…" He let his eyes shut almost completely. He left them an unperceivable sliver open; he enjoyed watching Max stare at him.

"Did you sleep well?" She asked to his chest.

Fang almost laughed. Did she find his torso _that_ interesting? "Quite, though I would've enjoyed it much more if I'd woken up later."

"You can always go back to sleep, you know," she said, blushing as he opened his eyes all the way.

He shook his head, causing his messy hair to flop into his eyes; he made no move to push it aside. "You're awake, too. I feel like I should entertain you or something." He forced himself to stop thinking those nasty thoughts and jumped to the floor, Max following him down the ladder.

Fang grabbed a t-shirt and threw it on. He almost caught Max looking disappointed. Almost.

Fang walked to his black electric guitar and picked it up, plugging it into the amp. He fiddled with the guitar for a time, Max watching him. He put it down after a while; it was boring when he didn't have anything to sing.

He got off his chair and sat across from Max. "How are you doing?"

"I'm… better," she said slowly. "You're really helping, Fang. Thanks." She smiled sweetly at him.

"I…" Fang considered telling her right then. 'I love you,' he saw himself saying, and then Max would look at him funny, tilting her head, then she would grin and say she loved him too, and then they would kiss. Fang got a little ahead of himself in his daydream, and he shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts running through his head. He didn't think of Max like _that_. He was sure that Max would find it hard to believe… he _was_ a teenage guy after all.

Max waved her hand in front of his face, catching his attention. "Earth to Fang! You were saying something?"

Fang shook his head. "I forgot…" he trailed off, staring at Max, who stared right back at him. They stayed like that until Max broke the eye contact.

"We should get breakfast," she said, standing and starting for Fang's door. He jumped up and caught up with her, poking her sides as he came up behind her. She squeaked cutely and Fang chuckled. "Don't do that!" She yelled whirling on him.

He raised his hands in defeat and looked up at her, grinning mischievously. "I won't do it again," he said while holding back a few laughs. It was uncharacteristic of him to be this happy; it was different, but he liked the way Max looked at him when he smiled. I made him think of a five-year-old staring in the windows of a candy store, awe written all over her face.

When she continued to stare, Fang raised his eyebrows in question, bringing Max back to her senses. "Sorry," she mumbled and continued downstairs to get breakfast. Fang followed her closely and they sat down at his dinner table, eating their breakfast of Cap'n Crunch cereal in silence. Fang stared at Max as if she would disappear any second. She would look up every few minutes and meet his eyes for a few moments, blush, and go back to her food. Fang thought it was exceedingly tempting to kiss her when her breath caught as if she were going to say something, but then shook her head, forgetting it.

They wandered back to his room eventually after Max fell asleep on Fang's shoulder from the mind-numbing activity of watching cars go by on the street. Fang and Max sat, once again, on the floor near his music equipment.

"So…" Max began, running a hand through her hair.

_I love you._ "So," Fang imitated, still staring at her.

"What do you wanna talk about?"

_About how I'm in love with you._ "Anything."

She eyed him. "Are you over Brittany?" Was there some awkwardness in that question?

"I was never into her that much." _I've always been into you._

"Why'd you go out with her, then?"

_She looked like you._ "I dunno. Impulse, I guess." Fang shook his head and continued to watch her. "Enough about me," he said when she didn't respond. "What about yourself? Getting over Iggy?"

Max smiled, but it was held back by her melancholy. "I was never into him that much," she said, repeating his answer.

"Why'd you go out with him, then?" Fang smiled at the repeated conversation.

"I thought I was into him. I was wrong."

Fang's breath caught in his throat, but he disguised it as a cough. "What do you mean, 'I was wrong'?"

"…I- I like someone else, but I didn't realize it for a long time." Her face bright red, Max turned away from Fang, staring at the various band posters on his walls.

Fang grinned rebelliously. "Who?"

Max turned a brighter red. "No one." She hooked a hand behind her neck and stared straight ahead, glancing at Fang from the corner of her eye.

Fang continued to gaze at her; he knew it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and he loved it. Freaking her out was always the best part of his day. He studied her profile, taking in the small streaks of brown in her hair and the freckle on her neck. The tiny freckles covering her arms made it look as if someone had splatter painted all her arms with brown paint, yet another thing he loved about her. And those long fingers that were moving of their own accord. He just loved everything about her.

"…For the last time, Fang, stop staring at me!" Max yelled, finally catching his attention.

He shook his head and focused on her. "What?" He asked, a little disoriented.

"You've been staring at me for the past ten minutes! What is wrong with you? All you've done today is stare at me!" Max was standing now, and Fang rose with her.

He stared at her very calmly and took a step closer. "Well, I can't really help it. It's something with me that I haven't told you about." _Yet._

Max was staring at him with wide eyes. "What is it, then?" She asked when he didn't go on.

Fang paused, he wanted to think that it was for dramatic effect, but he was really asking himself if he should tell her. "I'm kind of in love with you."

_I thought about ending it here, just to piss you guys off, but I decided to be nice. You love me. As much as Fang loves Max, right? I know, I know. Whatever._

_First Person_

"I'm kind of in love with you," Fang said and I just stared.

"What?" Was all I could think of to say.

Fang kept staring at me. "You heard me," he said, stepping back, but continuing to watch me.

I knew Fang well enough to know when he was joking with me, and that certainly wasn't now. He was watching me carefully, obviously judging my facial expressions, or lack, thereof, carefully. I stared at him open-mouthed until he shut my mouth for me.

"Did you say…" _That you loved me?_

"Max," he said quietly and I continued to stare at him.

I whimpered in response.

Fang cursed loudly and ran a hand through his hair. He walked away and stopped briefly in front of me, giving me a look that broke my heart. He'd walked across the room when he stopped again. "I said I love you, Max!" He yelled, scaring me about nine-tenths to death.

I didn't think about what I said next, his irrational attitude was rubbing off on me. "Well, I love you, too!"

"Fine!" He yelled, walking around the room.

"Yeah, fine!" I yelled back, turning my back to him.

_Now_, it registered that I had just told Fang I loved him. _Shi—_

"Wait, what?" Fang asked quickly from directly behind me and scaring the last tenth of my life to death. Oops. I was scared all the way to death right after I had told my best friend that I was in love with him. I hope you know I'm totally kidding.

I turned to face him. "I said that I loved you, too." I spoke quietly, now, not looking up at him.

Fang closed most of the distance between us and put his hands on my shoulders. I met his eyes cautiously and he grinned, kissing my forehead and enveloping me in a hug. "You have no clue how long I've waited to hear those words from you, Max." He whispered and I smiled into his shoulder.

"Is that what you tried to tell me at lunch at the beginning of the school year?"

"And the four other times," he said, chuckling and looking at me happily.

I rested my elbows on his shoulders and grinned easily; this was effortlessly getting my mind off the recent death of my mother. "I feel bad about those times, now, Fang…" I trailed off and he caught my eyes.

"But now you know, and that's all that matters." And then he kissed me.

* * *

"So… where does this put us?" Fang asked an hour later. We were relaxed on the huge black leather couch in his room. Fang was lying down with me; my head was on his chest.

"Where do you want us to be?" I asked, still a little breathless from our recent make-out session.

Fang grinned down at me. "I want you to be all mine."

I kissed his jaw. "Then so it shall be."

"Are we… dating now?" He asked after a much shorter make-out session.

"No," I said sarcastically. "I'm just the type of girl to tell you I love you, make out with you, and then say we're not dating. Of course we are, stupid." I hit his chest with the back of my hand.

"I'm glad," he said, grabbing my hand and kissing the fingertips.

I laughed and stared at him. "Me, too."

* * *

**AND IT'S DONE. Funny… I said I wouldn't write today, yet here I am finishing the chapter. Wow.**

**Anyway, I know you all LOVED this chapter, because I'm gonna LOVE re-reading it out loud to myself to be sure that I didn't mess anything up because I'm so tired that I tend to leave out words and write really obnoxious run-on sentences like this one and I make constant typos that I'm sure no one but me notices. Did you know that Microsoft Word Spelling/Grammar check doesn't fix run-on sentences? Because it didn't fix that massive one I just typed.**

**Anyway, I'm definitely getting switched from this (terrible) medicine that makes me super tired and random like this. It also doesn't work. My TS has actually gotten WORSE since I started taking it… I don't know what I'm going to be put on, but it'll probably be anti-depressants. That's encouraging, right?**

**REVIEW OR I **_**WILL**_** DEFENESTRATE YOU.**

_If you don't know what 'defenestrate' means, go look it up in a near-by dictionary or go to dictionary . c o m. It's a fun word. (Those of you that speak French… think de and fenêtre put together…)_


	35. Chapter 35

…***sheepish smile* I took last week (and most of this week) off. I know, I know, I stopped writing at the worst part possible, but… I hate to say it, but…**

**THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER OF MOVING ON!**

**I know, it's sad… we've come so far! Well, um… Ramblings (my dedication, thanks, that kind of stuff) on the bottom author's note.

* * *

**

_Epilogue- about a year later._ _Third person._

Fang wrapped his arms around Max's stomach and rested his head on her shoulder. "What's that?" He asked, kissing her jaw line.

Max held the envelope carefully, her hands shaking a little. "I think… I think it's either an acceptance or rejection letter to Vanderbilt."

Fang grinned and hugged her tighter. He'd recently been accepted into Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee on a full ride football/academics scholarship. "I hope you can come to college with me, babe," Fang mumbled into her neck.

She opened the envelope with shaking fingers and read it carefully. She sighed heavily and leaned back against him. Fang read the letter over her shoulder and grinned. "I made it, Fang." She sighed again. "I made it."

She turned around and grinned at him. Fang leaned his forehead on Max's; he enjoyed the feel of her relieved breaths on his face. "That's great, Max." He grinned and kissed her, closing his eyes and holding her closer to him. She smiled while kissing him and tangled her hands in his still 'emo' hair.

While they were kissing, the song on the radio changed to The Silence's new hit from their album that had come out a few weeks ago came on.

("Movin' On" Haha… name of the story…. It's by Needtobreathe and it's a tribute to what the original author wanted Fang's voice to sound like…)

"_Can we put back all the pieces to the puzzle left behind?  
We will soon be back together just before the stars align._

_And when the curtain falls for one last time and closes out the show.  
Marchin' left, right, left another step,  
Keep smilin' as we go._

_Movin' on._

_I'm sick of good intentions how they always tend to drown.  
But, then, nothin' seems to stay afloat,  
Livin' in the saddest town._

_And when the curtain falls for one last time and closes out the show,  
Marchin' left, right, left another step,  
Keep smilin' as we go._

_You're out of room for markin' days on the wall.  
The lines remind you of just how long I been gone.  
You're holdin' on, but now it's time to let it go.  
Just let it go._

_Movin' on.  
We could be the story that'll break your heart.  
We could be the victim of a fall apart.  
Maybe we could last another week or so.  
Movin' on, baby, means ya gotta let it go.  
Ya gotta let it go."_

**Pretend the rest is in bold. I'm sure you don't like looking at like, fifty thousand words of bold print. I actually want you guys to read this… it's important.**

So… I'm gonna ramble for a bit and make it look like this final chapter is actually long.

As I said earlier, this was the last chapter of Moving On… *smiles* I hope you all liked it. I really enjoyed writing this story.

Um… I'd like to thank several people for helping me out:

youXsetXmyXsoulXalight first, for letting me adopt this story and being overall awesome. I hope this turned out in a way you liked :)

Ai-chan for being herself and giving me lots of ides for the next (almost there) chapter and supporting me through all the *beep* I put her through this summer. She seriously wrote like, half of this, but I took all the credit.

Joey/Joanna/Aquapolartop for pushing me to update 24/7. I'm glad you liked this so much.

Rai-chan/Rachel/What's Your Point (even though I never talked about her) for reading this and squealing at all the Fax and booing at all the Miggy. Means a bunch to me, Rach.

Other Rachel for reading and supporting me (and giving me a bunch of ideas… but I never got to use them!) even though she NEVER read Maximum Ride.

All you awesome reviewers out there! Not to play *cough cough* favorites, or anything, but I'd like to especially thank lexival, Midge1012, CrazyNerdyFanGirl, and TaylorSwiftTwilightFan75. You guys were so awesome throughout the course of this story. I think (if I'm right) that you guys reviewed every single chapter. Thanks.

And… last but (definitely) not least, I wanna thank everyone that actually knows me (whether they read this story or not). Everybody that I see all the time gives me ideas for this story… Everything I write is based off things that I see happening in everyday life. Especially you, *insert name here*, even though I know you'll never read this. Our conversations this year really helped me to write.

I want you girls (and maybe guys?) to check out my new story, _Vienna._ It's about Max and Fang, and it has _plenty_ of Fax, though it comes later in the story. It's a tiny bit (not really) like this one. There's a real quick link to it in my (newly updated) profile.

Um… if anyone that reads this follows my other stories, or if you just wanna stalk me, follow me on twitter! You just go to twitter, as in the website, and search for kels_la. That's my profile name.

Now… This was the last chapter, yes, but there's going to be another (secret) chapter posted right after this one. Be on the lookout for it. It's gonna be lots of fun.

Now that I rambled for a page…

**REVIEW.**


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